World's First Robot Hotel Fires Half of Its Robot Staff

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The world's first hotel 'staffed by robots' has culled half of its steely eyed employees, because they're rubbish and annoy the guests. 'Our hotel's advanced technologies, introduced with the aim of maximizing efficiency, also add to the fun and comfort of your stay,' the Henn na Hotel boasted on its website. It's where multilingual female robots staff the reception desk. Guests are checked in using face recognition. Robot concierges carry your luggage. Robots cleaned and mixed drinks. A voice activated robot doll is on hand at night while you sleep.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the room doll interpreted snoring as a request it couldn't understand, waking guests continually through the night to rephrase. 'The two robot luggage carriers are out of use because they can reach only about two dozen of the more than 100 rooms in the hotel. They can travel only on flat surfaces and could malfunction if they get wet going outside to annex buildings,' the paper reported. 'They were really slow and noisy, and would get stuck trying to go past each other,' lamented one guest. The concierge and the room doll have now been removed.

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