
Japan to open first hotel entirely operated by robots - prostoalex
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/japan-open-hotel-operated-robots-article-1.2103352?cid=bitly
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ghshephard
We're about 10-15 years (at least) from the point at which room cleaning can
be done robotically. It's actually an incredibly complex task, which requires
a lot more in terms of executive skills/dexterity that just aren't on the
near-term roadmap for robotics or their control systems.

Even doing something simple, and highly constrained like changing the linens
on the bed, is still 5 years out (at least).

Now, what they _might_ have done, is constrain the environment, such that the
tasks can all be automated. I.E. designing the bed/linens, restricting
what/where things can be left in the room, or alternatively, restricting what
types of cleanup work will be done.

That would be an interesting approach, but far from the much more challenging
task of creating a generalized robotic solution to hotel automation.

~~~
chinathrow
Have you got any insights to share on your suggested timeframes, e.g. changing
linens "still 5 years"? How did you come up with those figures?

~~~
ghshephard
My timeframes are all _minimum_ numbers - I.E. the dates by which I would give
you 10 to 1 odds that they won't be beat. I don't have any insight into the
_maximum_ time frames - but anybody who spends a lot of time watching the
growth curve in robotics would agree that we aren't advancing very quickly in
optical/visual feedback dexterity See:
[http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/fingertip-sensor-gives-
robot-...](http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/fingertip-sensor-gives-robot-
dexterity-0919) for what is considered to be state of the art.

The dates regarding generalized cleaning, come from having done a n analysis
of the higher-level thinking that takes place when cleaning a room - its very,
very impressive the level of analysis that needs to take place for anything
but the most straightforward cleanup job.

What's interesting of course, is that anybody can make pretty good predictions
as to what dates won't be beat, but it's hard to guess when they will be.
Whats awesome to think about, is once we have technology to do things like
clean up a room, the vast majority of other robotic tasks, are going to fall
very quickly.

~~~
alextgordon
The first step would be to build a remotely-operated robot and have maids from
cheaper places "telecommute".

Then I'm imagining the robots would slowly develop more semi-autonomy.

The challenge is to have the right VR on the other end so that the robot can
be controlled intuitively.

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datamatt
> "No need to tip the staff at this hotel."

In Japan it is rude to tip, so this opening sentence is completely invalid.

~~~
josteink
For those who doubt this statement or find it odd, I can offer an explanation.

First of all, tipping someone implicitly puts them in a servile position and
says you're off better than them. Secondly, and this is probably the killer,
it says that you don't think they would manage without your help.

Which just goes to show that everywhere you go, you learn something new which
can be different ;)

~~~
damian2000
I've tipped taxi drivers in Tokyo before and they're pretty appreciative, so
maybe they just got used to foreign tourists tipping them and put up with it.

~~~
kristofferR
I've never heard about anyone tipping taxi drivers before, seems like a weird
thing to do. Is that actually common in the US?

~~~
DominikR
In Austria (Europe) this is common too.

~~~
tormeh
But not in Germany, though. In norway, tipping is something you only do at
restaurants (not in taxis or other places).

~~~
syntheticnature
Interesting. I had a taxi driver in Hamburg bitch at me for the whole ride
that Americans don't tip and why don't they tip?

So, that was the one taxi ride in Germany I took and didn't tip. (It was not
the first taxi ride in Germany.)

~~~
tormeh
Maybe there's an east-west divide? My experience is with Berlin.

~~~
syntheticnature
Looking at a few sites this morning, it sounds like it's typical to round up
to the next Euro in Germany, and that tipping more than 10% might be seen as
offensive (unless of course you are hoping to get some extra from an
American).

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rtpg
I know this is off-topic, but ascribing a country as the "doer" for this sort
of story frustrates me a lot.

I'm sure people would be up in arms if "America builds Creationist museum" was
a headline, so why should we do this for other places? It's not even hard to
rewrite! "First hotel entirely operated by robots to open in Japan"

~~~
jacquesm
> I'm sure people would be up in arms if "America builds Creationist museum"
> was a headline

Why would they be up in arms, it's a solid fact:

[http://www.creationevidence.org/](http://www.creationevidence.org/)

~~~
rtpg
because it's not America as whole who got together to do it, it's a couple
people who live in the country who do it. At least that's how I see it.

"America rejects Bush, elects Clinton" makes sense because it's talking about
something the country as a whole did. But saying "America builds the
creationist museum" can be read as "this was built with a non-minimal amount
of popular support, is representative of how americans see things as a whole,
and should be placed on the index card describing the country and its people"

~~~
jacquesm
Every news-item in every newspaper published starts off with 'City,' for
national news and 'City, Country' for international news. That's so customary
I highly doubt readers would interpret it as the whole country being
complicit, it's just a geographic label, not a stand-in for the population.

~~~
logfromblammo
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy)

This sort of construct is well-established in English. When the headline reads
"America Walks on Moon", the metonymic expansion is understood to be "[at
least one person from] America Walks on Moon".

In this case, I need no additional context to interpret the headline as the
hotel being built somewhere within the geographical region called Japan.

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funkyy
Every year something operated mainly by robots opens in Japan. After initial
news there is no more follow up about it. This sounds more like a marketing
trick than real thing.

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shawnps
FAQ for those who can read Japanese:

[http://www.h-n-h.jp/faq.pdf](http://www.h-n-h.jp/faq.pdf)

It says if you stay between 2 and 5 nights there is a fee to have your bed
made (#43). I wonder if this implies a human will be doing it.

I don't see anything on there that mentions robots making the beds. Could just
be that the robots do most of the cleaning and humans change the sheets or
something.

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Animats
It's not all robotic. It's mostly robotic. It will be interesting to see how
this works out. Except for handling linens, most hotel jobs could be automated
in a hotel designed for that.

It's time for someone to build an effective institutional bathroom cleaning
robot. Even if you have to design a robot-compatible bathroom.

~~~
kefka
I always thought that having a self cleaning bathroom would be better. Think
something like a car-wash. Combine key activation with motion sensors, and I'd
think it would be a great idea.

~~~
_delirium
That already exists with public toilets:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette)

Not sure if the levels of cleanliness it gets to are up to hotel standards,
though; people's standards for a public toilet are much lower.

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chinathrow
"The hotel will also have facial recognition, which will allow hotel guests to
enter their rooms without a key."

Great, I'll be outside taking pictures of guests and trying to impersonate
them.

~~~
icebraining
Facial recognition has moved beyond that some time ago. It know can use 3D
recognition (think Kinect-like).

~~~
tshadwell
Though this might be possible, I've not seen it in practice and I very much
doubt that this is what the hotel is planning to do.

~~~
icebraining
It's already sold as a commercial solution. As to whether this hotel will use
it, I have no idea, for all I know the whole thing is just a PR piece.

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codemac
$59 x 365 = $21535 x 1 yr = $1794 x 12 mo

I'm excited about the idea of an entire condo building being constructed in a
somewhat similar way. I'd love to live in a building where the HOA meetings
were people presenting new ways we could live without having to ever wash
dishes again.

~~~
tokenizerrr
You could get a dishwasher?

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
Or a dish washing _robot_

~~~
shabble
Or just a robot arm with arbitrary dish-type manipulator to load & unload your
dishwasher. Then it can take my usual pile-of-stuff on the countertop, and
restack it nice and clean an hour later. Bonus if it can reach into my
cupboards :)

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uniclaude
Some love hotels in Tokyo already make sure you do not see a single human face
in your stay. Room selection is done on a touch screen, door is opened with a
code, and payment is done using a machine.

It feels like this hotel is just the next step as (as a few mentioned in this
thread) tasks like changing & cleaning sheets are probably still handled by
humans, albeit hidden.

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kreddor
Well, the bagage robot in the picture looks a lot like the one at Yotel in
NYC: [http://www.yotel.com/Hotels/New-York-
City](http://www.yotel.com/Hotels/New-York-City) It broke last time I visited,
but fun to watch when it's operational.

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cstuder
I would love to see details on how they are cleaning the room with robots. The
rooms* don't look too mechanical to me.

* = Pictures/renderings on their homepage: [http://www.h-n-h.jp/en/](http://www.h-n-h.jp/en/)

~~~
damian2000
The reception desk robot reaching to get keys is bizarre, surely all door
locks would be keyless (access via an app for example) and any other
information could be provided digitally.

~~~
_delirium
Yeah, fully staffless check-in/out is already pretty common in Europe, and
doesn't require anything as movie-like as robots grabbing keys off a rack.
When you book you're given a code, and you use it to retrieve your key or
keycard from a vending-machine-like box at the entrance. Then you drop it off
when you leave. This is one chain that does that in Finland, and has no staff
on premises most of the time (only cleaning staff come in for a few hours in
the middle of the day): [http://www.omenahotels.com/about-
us/](http://www.omenahotels.com/about-us/)

~~~
ghaff
The aforementioned Yotel in New York also has check-in machine at the
entrance. (There's a check-in desk upstairs in the lobby but you don't
routinely have to use it.) The business traveler chains in the US are also
starting to focus more on check-in kiosks.

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eng_monkey
Why not write the news article when the hotel has actually opened? Otherwise
it just sounds to vaporware.

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universaltest
I have seen a competition in Japan where the robot can recognize successfully
what kind of drink is requested and bring it to guest . I feel optimistic
about this concept.

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samsaga2
I don't believe it. It is not yet possible make something as simple as a robot
to make your bed or a robot to do the maintenance or the other robots and
herself.

~~~
icebraining
_It is not yet possible make something as simple as a robot to make your bed_

Sure it is, as long as you don't refuse to consider the idea that you can
adapt the bed to the robots.

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kinduff
McDonald's should be managed entirely in this way and it's possible with the
current technology.

~~~
bhayden
When I'm bored I mentally plan out my on-demand hamburger factory food cart.
Seems totally feasible in my head.

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JohnLen
This is great. Wonder if the robots will be as efficient as humans at work.

~~~
olalonde
Efficient, almost certainly. Effective, probably not yet.

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taylorling
Sounds interesting, but for me, I think I would still prefer a more 'human'
environment for hotel - robots might be highly efficient on some tasks, but
they will never able to replace the 'human' part, which I thoroughly enjoy
when I travel.

~~~
xamuel
Humans make great bartenders, great phone support, great teachers. But when
I'm in my room, typing away or something, the last thing I want is a stranger
coming in to change the towels or whatever. Keep a human in the front lobby,
I'll take the robotic maids any day, please.

~~~
taylorling
That's true, but that's where you have the door sign says 'DND', at least the
hotels that I have stayed so far have this 'feature'.

~~~
xamuel
So under what circumstances are the human maids better? If you miss them
because you're at the conference, then you don't care whether they're human,
robot, or some sort of arsenic-based life-form as long as the room is cleaned.
If it's casual smalltalk you want, a hotel maid isn't a very efficient way to
deliver that.

