robot ambassador
Reality keeps going to the way of science fiction, and now it has arrived at the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas. Since last November, their new Technical Ambassador is Pepper — and yes, she is a robot. Standing four feet tall, Pepper’s friendly design reflects her customer-oriented role. She is made up of organic curves, articulated hands and large, expressive eyes, which, when combined with her lifelike movements, make her quite relatable to hotel guests.
Communicating with her is surprisingly intuitive, as she is capable of responding to facial, body and voice cues. She can be found in the hotel’s Sky Lobby, where she helps guests find their way around and give her suggestions on where to go, and is quite amenable to posing for a photograph or two.
Is she absolutely necessary at this time? No, but undoubtedly more and more robots like her will show up in the not-so- distant future, and she certainly makes a statement about staying on the forefront of technology. Pepper is a product of SoftBank Robotics, where she can be configured as host or promoter for US$25,000 (RM98,000).
