Robot shop assistants in Japan
Tokyo: Newly-opened department stores in Japan are often swamped with crowds of middle-aged women desperate for the biggest discounts on the latest crockery and washing machines. In an attempt to make it easier to deal with Tokyo's masses of shoppers, department store Takashimaya decided to enroll the services of a speech-recognizing robot for a week. Enter Saya, the latest robot assistant to haunt Tokyo's streets.
Saya was developed by Hiroshi Kobayashi of the Tokyo University of Science in 2004 and had until recently been involved in a trial at a Tokyo primary school. The robot supply teacher was capable of catching students passing notes and copying homework as well as giving them a rather stern telling off. Saya then began working at Takashimaya in Ginza where she sits at the store's information desk, reports Wall Street Journal.
Saya is capable of responding to shoppers' questions and complaints in more than 700 different ways, directing them to the relevant floors and making small talk in between. However sometimes Saya does seem rather confused by simple questions, often directing people to the toilet regardless of where they have to go. Her facial movements also leave something to be desired; she is capable of looking either happy and really angry or really sad.
The scariest thing about Saya however is her virtual past. Programmers have installed responses that allow her to tell passers by, a little about her history. Saya can respond to questions about previous jobs and even where she was created. Perhaps even more bizarrely, the shop has decked her out in a Takashimaya uniform and put make-up on her face.
Despite the fact that Saya is clearly a robot, it doesn't seem to have thrown the Japanese sense of politeness, with many shoppers bowing to the robotic aid after they were given direction. However, Saya has now returned to her Tokyo University desk job.
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