Inside the Japanese Hotel Staffed by Robots

we've all imagined in a world where robots do every job going well imagine no more because in a remote part of Japan some sense of that future can be experienced at a robot hotel enjoy your confortable stay will enjoy my comfortable stay thank you over Japan already employs over a quarter of a million industrial robot workers more than any other nation in an effort to counter high labor costs big business would like to see that number go up to 1 million over the next 15 years but as developers get better at building humanoid robots bot is in the service and entertainment industries are eyeing up ways to automate their workforce - what we've come here to find out is whether this is just a local obsession or something that could become the norm for anyone that goes on holiday in the future and along the way we want to answer a bigger question what is it that humans need to do to make sure that they're still needed as robots continue to take over you Japan has always taken a lead in designing what our future might look like we were there to visit the latest innovation in hotels but 30 years before robots run them capsule hotels from the imagined future so firstly we went to visit them you have to cover them in tattoos in the capsule hotel stop the Yakuza kicking off fashion no no usually wearing socks and sandals not here is it your if I said to stay here it's my first time stay here so this is your look local Iran it hasn't really been explained to me why I have to put this on I'm going along with the capsule outfit so this is my room for the night yes easier all right into the capsule it's quite hard getting in hit elegant I thought it would feel more like being in a coffin but actually you could imagine having quite a nice relaxed sleep here I think the capsule hotel is a fantastic invention and I don't really know why it's not been replicated everywhere else in the world what do you think about the idea of robots doing the job of receptionist's so if Nihon hemos oído hotel agave has material desk a demo yeah see no hotel ET no mo tennessee no hogar de ningún tonight o devdays no cactus Amano yo si esto hace koto music Renault motor Koto's akima Arista Kinetico donde la paloma telecine okura and in gains and a total miracle - thank you very much do with our lips wetted with the taste of human hospitality we headed to the Mariah can museum robots and display their are intended as a study to see how humans interact with humanoid robots with their silicon skin and artificial limbs that were molded from real humans these remote-controlled robots bear the closest resemblance to real life people of any machine at the moment so the idea of this robot is that it takes in use from all over the world and just transmits it instinctively think that you're in the room with another human being just by the features and the skin is so accurate strange what is the world coming to to run out I'm holding the Telenoid and I think the point of it is to enhance telecommunications so we're going to try it out we've got our producer in the box next door so what have you done today Lucille don't hug loads of hugs lots of hugs you're holding me funny I can't quite move my head properly if the whole point of it is to replicate sort of human emotion and help people get closer to other people then I'm just not sure if this is the best way to go about it and so you're in a tunnel ride what isn't a ton of wood she'll look like she look like an did I tell me how old are you oh are you asking my all I'm asking you it's a secret yes we do your lips despite how realistic they were I found the robots awkward to the conversational niceties of meeting people on common ground even applied to artificial beings as a left Tokyo and boarded a plane to Nagasaki this question was still on my mind by now I was looking forward to finding out where that middle ground lies when robots are doing actual jobs the Henner hotel roughly translates into weird hotel but would that describe the human experience of a place almost exclusively run by robots welcome to the Hangout hotel if you want a check-in please press 1 if you want to check out please press the check out of the right of the touch panel please move to the right touch panel and check this reminds me of go to the supermarket I'm to check in check out there which I struggle with as much as I seem to be struggling with this but this persevere do you race to use facial recognition for injuries I do okay you put your card there Roman for me called a kite over the traitor a British TV check-in is all finished enjoy your confortable stay will enjoy my comfortable stay thank you over I'm good he can ride on it it's not a quicker way of getting your bag to room and we're here you can sort see what people mean about kind of robots having personalities I Robot thanks for your help okay so we're going to see if the facial recognition key system works that's so clever day is clever I'm very impressed by that I were to those set of instructions and Coe would ask him to show the lights off Judy Chan man missile Akari ket and the like so I wanted to meet the man behind the robots the hen our hotel was the brainchild of Japanese travel tycoon Hideo sourdough hideo's like the Donald Trump of the travel industry in Japan and only had an hour to spare with us out of his busy schedule we're inside this kind of Edwardian style Dutch town house it looks how you'd imagine sort of the inside at the White House or something to look can you describe to me the relationship between robots and people in Japan here Nevada near Mackesy I know what I did Josiah dokie yeah gonna do give me a two anime/manga de robot on an Amiga iPad Tetsuo tomo toka my rear toe an astro boy in a desert road i rana Herrera sono Lovato doto anno domini oh no DeGrasso I know I know the new Honda robot Alisa is your new machine readable to get skeptics animus do you think the robots replacing humans it - Booker a no time Josiah toka containers sorry Jamie robot Tony and Oscar - - cuca I was what - kaboom catalytic engaged Akina I see what don't mistake about a book I see what - I have another night too - no no but the hotel is no concept much knowledge don't know the stores cannot be stay in the water this is a salt or you could expose merriness suits me ID must lift at the mega dismay every time a chicken a guitar domina no there yeah sure I were you know what hunger good mo da di da da - they tell Munna into pneumonia cotton whatever then ii ii ii look at Tito Amos since things were going well with Hideo he decided he wanted to give us a guided tour of his hotel yes I you can get inside yeah he said and what you your baggage okay I'm not sure how practical this robot is the technology is incredible it looks like it should belong in a battery or even an art gallery rather than a hotel it's nice to meet you my name is nao nice to meet you and we guide inside the building what do you want to know check-in where do I get to breakfast you can have it at breakfast at the restaurant dollar which is two minutes by walk prepared thank you very much thank you very much it was quite interesting talking to CEO then his love of robots means that he can innovate within his business and part of that innovation helps him cut costs I think as the consumer we're going to be forced to love robots they're going to be sold to us packaged up as dinosaurs but for the people driving this innovation it's really capital that's doing that do you think that the Bravo hotel is a good idea it's good idea I think yes yeah by using robot we can cut cost and it's very high so a robot dog ideomotor a tomaten descoteaux to Takara Sodor tomorrow - don't worry master hobby see stuff and I know hopefully more digital then when I needed one like a million away document you're gonna take that it took a bit as unit I will call me point advantage article okay son great or model domani tonight so there's no bar in this hotel and there's no restaurant that learn anyone to cook any food what we do have is vending machines so we're coming here for dinner the economy a cube are my favorite the casual frozen foods there's one lesson to be learned out this robot has a very little waiting three two one alright a delightful were passed on a robot evening like tonight as fuel the slippers in a robe and I didn't even have to speak to him when it came to Japan I was entirely consumed with the problem of robots taking human jobs now that I'm here it's easy to see why that's happening it was completely simple checking into this hotel using the sort of dinosaur robot computer combo and even renting a set of pajamas from the vending machines but the end of the evening when I sort of sitting in my room I thought about that something had been missing from the whole experience and that was a human connection but otherwise compensates for the quite isolated experience of staying in a hotel essentially the hen our hotel is just a fun experiment at the moment but it does pose a serious challenge to humans if robots and their human owners have set their sights on running hotels then humans need to become even more human to make themselves a replaceable cheer Chan pillow talk with a robot a quarry cushy tea but here now I've got a yogi smash that oh it's quite nice you don't feel so low having a little robot sleeping next you Oh

Channel: Motherboard

Views: 2,258,117

Rating: 4.8269291 out of 5

Keywords: travel, robots, Japan, Robot Hotel, hotels, technology, Nagasaki, Tokyo, motherboard, science, motherboardtv, Hideo Sawada, machines, Henn-na Hotel, vice, documentary, documentaries

Id: mpzIQt6l4xY

Length: 14min 48sec (888 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2015