Japanese businesses looking for an employee with tireless enthusiasm and an unrivalled work ethic can now hire robot workers for an hourly wage.
The 113-centimetre-tall bot, called 鈥淯biko鈥�, can welcome visitors, answer questions and carry objects. The company behind the robot is Tokyo-based Ubiquitous Exchange, which is developing Ubiko with another robotics firm, Tmsuk, based in Kitakyushu, southern Japan.
Following successful tests involving robot receptionists at a hospital in central Japan, Ubiquitous Exchange has decided to make Ubikos available for businesses to hire.
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The blue and white robot has large ears and a single large video camera for an eye. It can answer simple verbal inquiries, making it suitable for use as a receptionist or a guide in airports or train stations, its makers suggest.
Classroom assistant
Henrik Hautop Lund, a robotics researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, says the decision to rent Ubiko out to employers reflects a wider change. 鈥淯biko is yet another example of how the service robots are becoming available for everyday life,鈥� Lund told 快猫短视频.
鈥淭here is currently a clear trend in both research and industry to engage in service robot development,鈥� he adds. 鈥淎nd we will see many other examples of service robots in the very near future.鈥�
But Lund adds that Ubiko robot may find little work outside of its native Japan, where consumers ,may be less accepting of robots in general. 鈥淚t could certainly have a future in Japanese 24-hour stores,鈥� says Lund. 鈥淏ut, for export outside the Japanese home market, Ubiko must be developed further in terms of design and human-robot interaction.鈥�
Wage demands
The robot鈥檚 wage demands are also unlikely to impress many prospective employers. Ubiquitous Exchange charges 楼52,500 ($445) an hour for each robot 鈥� hardly competitive compared to human helpers, even in a country with a dwindling population, such as Japan.
The company insists that Ubiko is not overpriced, however. 鈥淚f we look at these robots as advertising and public relations businesses, the price is quite cheap, actually,鈥� Sakurai says, adding that twenty companies are already on the waiting-list to receive one.
Two other robot assistants, produced by Tmsuk, made their debut last month at Aizu Central Hospital in central Japan, welcoming visitors at the entrance and answering spoken inquiries. These robots can carry luggage and escort visitors and patients to their destinations.
