An Informative Summary of Japanese Hospitality

An Informative Summary of “Japanese Hospitality

Robots Debut at World Expo”

Tsuno, Yoshikazu “Japanese Hospitality Robots Debut At World Expo.” 9 Mar 2005.

SpaceDaily 1 Apr 2005 .

The 2005 World Exposition in Nagkute, Japan will present technical wonders to the public. The World Expo runs in the central Aichi region for six months starting March 25. Japan uses the expo to display its technological might. Interactive Robots on display will be the main attraction.

The Expo includes robots that resemble young women, called Actroid, in information booths that speak four languages. Guest felt awkward due to Actroid’s realistic human features. The designers wanted the most honest reaction from the guest. Three versions of the Actroid with different faces will be mobilized at the Expo. Japan hopes Actroid will draw 15 million visitors to its industrial heartland.

There are also security contingent robots on wheels and tiny colorful machines that sing. The Alsok guard robot has a touch panel in its chest to provide directions to visitors. If Alsok detects suspicious people it will try to scare them away with sirens and lights. Alsok can also detect fires and report them to a security center.

For small children there is the child-care robot PaPeRo. With built-in cameras and microphones, it can recognize the faces of children and say their names. The PaPeRo also sings with children and quizzes them, recognizing who voice even if they try to trick it.

With the expo running for six months, the public will see many advances in robotics created to interact with humans. Even thou we are able to see and interact with them, it will be some time before the public can purchase them.

Japanese Hospitality Robots Debut At World Expo

Japanese robot venture Kokoro's humanoid robot 'Actroid', able to recognize 40,000 phrases in four languages, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English, guides visitors at a reception for the 2005 World Exposition Aichi in Nagkute near Nagoya, central Japan 07 March 2005. Japan will welcome the millions of guests at the World Exposition opening this month with hosts trained to greet them in their language, entertain their children and perform rap music with them - the gracious hosts are robots. AFP photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno.

by Yoshikazu Tsuno

Nagakute, Japan (AFP) Mar 09, 2005

Japan will welcome the millions of guests at the World Exposition opening this month with hosts trained to greet them in their language, entertain their children and perform rap music with them. The gracious hosts are robots.

The World Expo, which runs in the central Aichi region for six months from March 25, will be used by Japan as a way to display its technological might, of which a horde of robots is set to be the most potent symbol.

Guests will find that the young women at the information booths who speak four languages are humanoids, that the security contingent includes robots on wheels and that tiny colorful machines will sing for the younger visitors.

Aichi's information booth worker Actroid, developed by Japanese firms Kokoro and Advanced Media, looks like a Japanese woman in her 20s and understands 40,000 phrases each in Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean.

The humanoid with realistic eyeballs, eyelashes and moving lips gestures and puts on facial expressions suitable for the more than 2,000 types of answers it can give.

The robot may refuse to answer to sensitive questions for "privacy reasons," making an X with her arms and bowing.

She also has a sense of irony. When asked if she is a robot, she says, "Y.e.s, I. a.m. a. r.o.b.o.t" in a disconnected voice and moves about clumsily. A moment later, she says "Just kidding" and starts a natural flow of movements.

Three versions of the Actroid with different faces will be mobilized at information booths