Robots: The Future of Retail
Welcome to the future of shopping…stores no longer require greeters, cuz now there are…ROBOTS!!!!
Totally not kidding, a robot named Wakamaru will be the first of it’s kind, and just got hired by Uniqlo to be their front door greeter for the second week of Sept at the SoHo store. The robot, designed by Toshiyuki Kita and developed by Mitsubishi gets its name from a famous 12th century warrior, which means at any point during the day he might “malfunction” and take a katana blade to your acheles tendon if you don’t walk out with an Uniqlo bag.
Wakamaru will greet guests, make eye contact, recognize people, have arm movements, lead staff in motivational morning exercises (wait is this Walmart) and communicate promotions to customers.
What’s next? Robots helping me in the dressing room, recording me as I undress, getting uncomforably close with his hot robotic breath…
Sorry picked up some hentai last night. What was I writing about again…
