You might recall that last year during CEATEC, we reported that Toshiba was working on a humanoid robot called Aiko Chihira. Unlike most robots which look, well, robot-like, Aiko Chihira is very humanoid in its appearance which you can see for yourself in the video above that was uploaded by the Hindustan Times.
The good news is that if you want to see the robot in action, Toshiba and Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi department have partnered up and have installed the robot at the entrance of its department store where it will be able to greet customers upon their arrival. The robot is freakishly humanoid and has the ability to perform regular human functions, such as blink and move its mouth to sync with the recorded message.
The robot will be greeting customers in Japanese but is also programmable to speak other languages, such as Chinese. According to Hitoshi Tokuda, Toshiba’s new business development division group manager, “It would be good if we can have her provide guidance, or recommend various things in Chinese. People can be looking around and think, ‘Oh if Aiko is around, she can speak Chinese’. That’s what I hope will happen.”
At the moment the robot is only able to greet customers and has not gained the functionality to respond to customer queries or complaints. It looks like the robot revolution is upon us!