It's getting tougher and tougher to be a receptionist in Japan these days. It used to be that the hardest part of your day was the running from place to place or dealing with a boss who was a total creep. Those days almost sound good again!
Now, meet Wakamaru. He or she - or should that be "it" - is the new face of the Japanese receptionist. And receptionists won't be laughing when they find out that Wakamaru is a robot.
Created by Mitsubishi, Wakamaru isn't just any robot. It will do the job for for considerably less than a human being and comes complete with a 10,000 word vocabulary. It is even trained to recognize faces. Freaky.
At first, I laughed when I read this article. By the end, it occurred to me that the computer age has put many jobs at danger's edge. But, come on! Having a robot taking the place of the only interaction some clients may have when dealing with a company is nothing short of a ridiculous.
I guess those who feel that the workplace is increasingly inhuman will definitely feel that this is taking it one step too far!
