Fancy talking to a realistic robot on your next trip? Head to the city of Hefei in China.
A luxury hotel in the capital of Anhui Province has been using a stunning humanoid to welcome guests.
Apparently,
the talking robot is so 'human-like' and 'pretty' many guests have
failed to realise it is a machine at first, according to Chinese media.
The 340-room hotel, Chinese Calligraphy
Building, has prepared a wardrobe filled with ancient Chinese robes for
the mechanical beauty. They have named it Madame Wei - after a female
calligrapher from the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD).
Mr
Yin, a deputy manager of the hotel, told MailOnline that Madame Wei
started to 'work' in the lobby from September last year, and has been
highly popular among their guests.
He
said Madame Wei can perform simple tasks, such as greeting people and
giving directions, but most work in the lobby are still being done by
human staff.
Madame Wei was built by Hefei-based technology company Ke Da Guo Chuang.
The
company's general manager, Mr Gao, told MailOnline that his company was
contacted by Chinese Calligraphy Building to make a robotic
receptionist last year. His company then purchased the components
and assembled the robot.
Mr Gao said
Madame Wei's facial features were custom-made by one of his suppliers
after the hotel said they wanted it to look 'gentle', 'elegant' and
'classical'.
Mr Gao declined to reveal
the technical details of Madame Wei, insisting his company used
'existing technology' to build the robot. However, Madame Wei's appears
to be highly similar another life-like talking robot Jia Jia, which is
developed by The University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.
It took the team three years to complete
Jia Jia, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and
body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner. Jia Jia was
unveiled in April, 2016.
Jia Jia has
natural eye movement, speech that is in sync with its lip movement and
refers to its male creators as 'lords'. According to Xinhua,
experts used the facial features of five female students from The
University of Science and Technology of China as the inspiration of Jia
Jia's looks.
Its inventor, Chen
Xiaoping, predicted that within a decade or so, artificially intelligent
robots like Jia Jia would begin performing a range of menial tasks in
Chinese restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals and households.
