From Engadget:
Japan's first robot-staffed hotel opens this week and we just got the full tour. While the main attraction may be the bordering-on-human receptionist (left) and the English-speaking dinosaur (er, right), the hotel has a whole family of robots performing varying degrees of useful work. Think: room service and a luggage porter, with one familiar face taking up duties as a bilingual concierge.
No HAL or Red Queen, but there is a Dinosaur that speaks English. I'm not too keen on the whole fake human as robot. I wouldn't mind a Wall-E or even the Dinosaur robot, but that female robot worker gives me the creeps. It all looks to be very much a tourist trap, but could actually be saving a lot of money in the long run. I'm sure maintenance on a robot is cheaper than having to pay a worker, provide insurance, a retirement plan, and a number of other inconveniences that flesh bags impose on their employers. You could even have a spare robot in a closet, in case one breaks down.
(Score: 1) by KBentley57 on Thursday July 16 2015, @03:22AM
I've read all his novels, so they begin to run together, but I believe it was in the "Rama" series that he described using dinosaurs for manual labor; primates would get bored and were unable to complete the tasks. It's only fitting that dinosaurs were chosen for the manual labor here, and I wonder if they were inspired by his books.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday July 16 2015, @03:40AM
Seeing as he lived most of his life in Sri Lanka where they to this day use elephants to do most heavy work, Doesn't seem too much of a jump from elephant to dinosaur. At least for fiction.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday July 16 2015, @05:08AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3001:_The_Final_Odyssey [wikipedia.org]
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."