Yesterday's Newsbytes included a snippet about People Staff Co, a temp agency in Japan, renting out 1-meter-tall Wakamaru humanoid robots as receptionists in offices and hospitals. Of course, it's not as much fun without the photo, above.
Another question is whether it's affordable. According to Forbes magazine:
Required salary: 120,000 yen ($981) per day or about 3 million yen ($24,525) for a year's service. The robot's day-rate is pricey, but the yearly charge is equivalent to the annual salary of a human employee.
It's a great gimmick, but I can't really see any firm entrusting reception duties solely to robots, can you? There are just too many unexpected and probably unscriptable interactions at a typical reception desk.
