If Hilton has its way, the suited-and-booted concierge with a dapper hairstyle may well become a thing of the past — and sooner than you think.
These days wearable technology is the norm and robotic bar tenders on cruise ships are no longer a novelty. Last year a hotel in Japan located within the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki, became the first to be staffed almost entirely by humanoids at the check-in desk — with the odd human overseeing operations. These robots are life-size and bizarrely one is a dinosaur. But this is a theme park hotel where anything goes. How will it work in the real world?
Meet Connie. Connie, named after hotelier Conrad Hilton, is a pint-size hotel concierge robot whose cousins may well be starring in a Star Wars blockbuster movie.
The creation of this 58cm robot was a collaboration between Hilton, IBM Watson whose technology provides speech (albeit a little high pitched right now) and WayBlazer who provide the travel database. Their mission is to create an interactive portal to be used in the hospitality industry.
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