Have you ever been to a department store and greeted by an elderly lady and gentlemen? It made you feel welcomed, right??Mitsukoshi, a popular department store in Tokyo, gets that concept…sort of.
At this Tokyo store, you’ll be welcomed by a robot greeter. It…I meant her name is Chihira. She’s a humanoid robot and a brainchild of Toshiba. She made her historic debut on April 20. She speaks Japanese, Chinese, Korean and does Japanese sign language. She can blink, talk, and move in many other human forms; she’s controlled by 43 motors. Chihira can even lip sync. She joined a famous Japanese opera singer in a duet, then asked for applause at the end. The robot, not the singer, but the robot said, ” I would like you to listen to the song I’ve put a lot of effort into.” Yep, Chihira can even plagiarize. But what she can’t do is handle customer complaints…yet. Food giant Nestle also has a humanoid robot working in the world.
When I was in junior high, a science teacher told us one day robots could take our jobs. I didn’t believe him then, but I believe him now! Don’t get me wrong. This is a wonderful and huge technological step. Part of me is fascinated that a computer can speak more languages than most Americans can and can attempt to sing opera. I give credit to Toshiba and Mitsukoshi. Chihira is going to be a huge draw and get many feet, pocketbooks and wallets in the store. I find it funny they didn’t program Chihira to deal with customer complaints. How convenient they still let humans be the punching bag for complaints but let the robot do all the good stuff. I may be old school, but I prefer an actual human being greeting me in the store. I prefer a person with real feelings, emotion, and empathy. I prefer a person that has real pay check to earn, real bills to pay, and real families to feed (get my drift?). Are these robots great public draws or great risk to human jobs?