成都, Chengdu, in characters familiar to us, is one of the oldest cities in China. Already more than four thousand years ago, the man settled in this area of Sichuan, which would have hosted, four millennia later, one of the largest cities in the country. Today Chengdu has more than 14 million inhabitants. NET is the contrast between the granitic tradition and the millenarian customs of China, and the continuing leaps forward that the Chinese economy and innovation are making in recent years.
An example? The Robot Hotel, the world’s first hotel with no staff, opened its doors in July of 2018. Registration and booking through Wechat, which sends a code that allows access to the structure, then to the reception, consisting of two simple screens on which to scan the documents to finalize the check-in and access to the rooms. Already here, however, the problems begin: Some users have reported the terminal block for document recognition. Problem solved with the return into play of the human being, which provided a new access code.
But it doesn’t end here. It will seem comical, but the Robot Hotel in Chengdu does not have an elevator, the interior of the rooms seems not exactly the symbol of sophistication in furnishing, at least according to western tastes. Light switches are missing, replaced by motion sensors that automatically turn off the lights after a few minutes of inactivity of the guests. Basic, although it is called Robot Hotel, of robots not even the shadow. Rather, it is a hotel packed with domotics pushed to the highest levels. In fact at the entrance, the sign reads 无人智慧酒店, which means more or less “hotel with artificial intelligence”.
The same hotel chain, however, is equipped with a pair of anthropomorphic robots in some structures of Shenzen, a special economic zone characterised by a more liberal economy and open to investments from abroad. From here, perhaps, the need to make good shape in the eyes of foreign investors. These robots, in fact, accompany customers to the rooms and carry towels or basic necessities. But you know, so much technology means so much maintenance, many investments and many headaches. That maybe at the Robot Hotel in Chengdu still are not able to cope.