Prague’s Pyramida Hotel Employs Robot Receptionist

But maybe there’s an easier way.

Take Prague’s Pyramida Hotel, for example. Earlier this week, the Orea Hotels & Resorts location in Prague 6 unveiled its newest receptionist, named Pepper. She greets guests at the door, answers any questions they may have, and directs them towards their destination.

And she isn’t even human.

At 1.2 meters tall and weighing in at 26 kg, Pepper is a state-of-art robot who will go into operation at Pyramida Hotel from October 1. So far, she’s already delighting co-workers with her enthusiasm and ability to learn new skills.

Pepper only speaks English at the moment, but she’s quickly learning Czech, and hopes to be fluent by the end of the year.

She also comes equipped with four microphones, two HD cameras, a touchscreen chest-mounted tablet, and 3D sensors. She has movable joints at her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, and knees, but she isn’t quite as fast as her human co-workers, with a maximum speed of three kilometers per hour.

Orea introduced some other innovations during a press conference on Monday, part of 600 million crowns they will invest in their Czech hotels by 2021. Among those, touch-screen tablets in hotel rooms, TVs that can be controlled via guest smartphones, and the ability to pay by Bitcoin from January of next year.

The diminutive Pepper, however, was the star of the show. But Orea director Gorjan Lazarov was careful to note that she would not be replacing human employees.