Olympics fever has definitely hit businesses in Japan. With hundreds of thousands of tourists expected to descend on Tokyo during the summer months of the Olympics and Paralympics, the resulting hotel construction frenzy has resulted in a shortage of trained hotel staff. While training and recruitment are taking place, one hotel has taken a very Ready Player One approach to the problem. Enter PLEN Cube, the digital assistant.

PLEN Cube uses the latest in facial recognition technology to make the hotel industry less reliant on human resources and consequently, more efficient. A small cube measuring 7.5cm, PLEN Cube contains a camera, microphone, and speaker to meet the needs of hotel guests and will be rolled out at the an/other TOKYO hotel in Kyobashi this May!

It’s easy to see how a digital assistant able to handle multiple languages and a variety of services around the clock will be of use to tourists during the Olympics. It’s also nice to see a Kickstarter project become a proper product on an industrial scale.

Source: PR TIMES
[Original article in Japanese]