Japan robot hotel fires most of its 'annoying' robotic staff

A hotel in Japan has laid off more than half of its robotic staff following complaints from some guests about the practical limitations of the machines. Among the 243 robots employed by the Henn-na Hotel, which roughly translates as "Weird Hotel" were a velociraptor receptionist, an automated gardener and a one-armed claw that handles left luggage. The facility which made headlines in 2015 when it opened in Nagasaki Prefecture, also made use of more experimental machines, such as bedside table-sized butler capable of arranging a wake up call or announcing the weather forecast. Glitches with this robot saw it wake up guests who were snoring loudly after mistaking the noise for a voice command, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Hen-na hotel describes the concept as "excitement meets comfort" thanks to "state-of-the-art" technologies.