These Japanese Robots Are Multilingual, Designed To Assist 2020 Olympics Visitors

Japan is known for its cultural quirks. Be it the food, the growing gaming culture or the expanding robot arsenal, Japan never fails to set your imagination alight. Now, the country will be introducing multilingual robot concierges that would welcome visitors at a Tokyo Metropolitan Government's building to test their practical usage ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The trial is part of the metropolitan government's efforts to help accelerate developments of such robots for use by foreign tourists visiting Japan, according to a news report published by NHK World. The government wants to slowly introduce these bots into Japan's everyday life to help commuters and people get information faster and more efficiently.

The report added there will be five robots installed in one of its buildings near Shinjuku Station from Monday through late February next year. These robots will be capable of communicating in several languages including Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

The government is aiming at easing the robots’ use in society. By 2020, they want comfortable communication established between humans and these helpful robots. The government hopes the robots will be put to practical use in time for the 2020 Tokyo Games, also as a display of Japan's state-of-the-art technologies.

This is not a new development for the Japanese people though. These robots have been a part of their daily lives from 2016. In October 2016, A Japan Times article said robots were implemented in the country to direct people to their destinations.

This robot called Emiew3 was started by the East Japan Railway Co., as a pilot project under which a humanoid robot serves visitors in English, Chinese and Japanese.

Emiew3 was kept in the travel service center at the Marunouchi north exit in Tokyo. The bot, which is 90-cm tall and 15-kg can respond to an array of questions in multiple languages. The robot has been assisting people with the arrival and departure time of trains in Tokyo as well as shops and restaurants within the station, added the report.

Similarly, Nao, a 58-centimetre (1ft 11)-tall humanoid developed by the French company Aldebaran Robotics – a subsidiary of the Japanese telecoms and internet giant SoftBank – began work on a trial basis at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in Tokyo. According to an April 2015 Guardian report, the bot has a camera on his forehead and can speak 19 languages. The bot can also analyze customers’ emotions from their facial expressions and tone of voice, enabling him to greet customers and ask what services they need.

The government aims at introducing these robot facilities on a larger scale by 2020 to handle the large influx of foreigners expected to come watch the Olympics in Tokyo.