Tuesday, April 21, 2015

My bank is now staffed by a helpful robot

Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is Japan's biggest bank, and I've been a customer for over six years. That may have been a good call, because now it's the first to employ robots. Aldebaran Robotics' Nao, a bipedal android that costs around $8,000, is now "staffing" UFJ's glitzy flagship branch near Tokyo station. Nao speaks Japanese, English, and Chinese, and is designed to answer inquiries ranging from how to open a bank account to what someone should do if they lose their cash card. Perhaps less usefully, the robot can also dance and act out sports poses.

I spent the afternoon talking to Nao after UFJ's closing hours. Nao is somewhat reminiscent of SoftBank’s Pepper — soon to be adopted by rival bank Mizuho — with a similar brand of friendly,...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://j.mp/1JpwEjj

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