Japanese hotel lays off half the robots

Henn-na Strange Hotel in Japan laid off half its 243 robots after they created more problems than they could solve . One of the layoffs included a doll-shaped assistant in each hotel room called Churi.

Churi is like Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa who can answer questions about local business opening and closing times. But when hotel guests asked Churi what time does the theme park open? It did not have a good answer. Churi was supposed help ameliorate the Strange hotel staff shortage by substituting in for human workers.

Two velociraptor robots positioned at check-in were also decommissioned because human workers essentially had to do their jobs for them and photocopy guests passports manually. Two luggage porters could only reach about 24 of the over 100 rooms in the hotel and failed in rain or snow. They would often get stuck trying to pass by each other. The hotel’s main concierge robot also did not know how to answer questions about flight schedules and nearby tourist attractions. They all have since been replaced by a human.