Interest
Mitsukoshi Department Store Employs Meet-and-Greet Robot Aiko
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo has hired a new, temporary greeter for its store. Clad in a traditional kimono, AIKO Chihara smiles and bows to customers on the ground floor as they enter the high-end store. What separates AIKO from the rest of the staff is that she isn't alive. AIKO is a convincing android made by Toshiba on display from April 20-21 as part of a larger Toshiba event.
Her AI isn't as advanced as SoftBank's Pepper, who works at one of their locations or the NAO humanoid working at Mitsubishi UFJ bank as she can't directly respond to customer inquiries. She offers some assistance via looped audio tracks, though.
Toshiba describes AIKO's personality as "quiet" and "happy to help people." In the video shown above, AIKO also separates herself from her root brethren by her ability to communicate via Japanese Sign Language.
[Via Japan Trends]
