Evolving into robots

“A commitment for evolution.” That’s the slogan of a Nagasaki hotel scheduled to open in July and be staffed by 10 robots programmed to greet guests, carry luggage, and clean rooms.

The Henn-na Hotel will be located in Huis Ten Bosch, a Japanese theme park with Dutch buildings, canals, and windmills. I visited Nagasaki a dozen years ago and thought this Dutch treat was weird but it did have historical validity: Beginning in the 17th century, the Netherlands had a trading post on a tiny artificial island, Dejima, just off Nagasaki. Now the Henn-na Hotel gives us a look at a possible future.

The Telegraph of London reported that the Kokoro robotics company will provide “actroid” robots modeled on young Japanese women. Like C-3PO, the Star Wars protocol droid, the robots will be language-fluent (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English) and able to mimic human hand gestures. Happily, the staff will also include 10 humans to provide a personal touch and take over if the robots run amuck.

Hideo Sawada, president of Huis Ten Bosch Co., offered some bad news for those planning to enter what’s called the hospitality industry. “In the future, we’d like to have more than 90 percent of hotel services operated by robots,” he said at a news conference.

So does “Commitment to evolution” mean commitment to a new branch on the “tree of life” that Darwin believers draw: from other mammals to an ape-like ancestor to man to robot?