Hello!
Yeah!
I like the little hat.
Look at that, that style.
When I was a kid growing up in the 90s, I had an unhealthy obsession with watching sci-fi films
and as a result I would often daydream about how amazing life would be in the future.
Driving around in our flying cars, and interacting via life-like holograms
And of course, holding conversations with our best friends
who would inevitably be intelligent robot talking teddy bears.
Well we're now just on to three years away from the year 2020 and the future isn't quite like I'd imagined it.
Instead of futuristic holograms, we've got quantum LED true colour 4K televisions
With curved displayed and immaculate crisp picture quality.
In other words, just a television that you can't possibly hope to afford.
Instead of flying cars, we've got not flying cars
And instead of robotic talking teddy bears that are our best friends
We've got Siri, which is like having a conversation with your least favorite school teacher.
Siri, why don't I have any friends?
I think it's something to do with cookies.
Anyway, I am your friend. Always and forever.
Oh
Yay
Still, perhaps there is some hope, a ray of light at the end of a disappointing tunnel.
Last month, a new robot hotel opened in Tokyo called The Henna Hotel
Which literally translates as The Strange Hotel.
It's supposed to be fully automated and it sounds like the future.
But given that I'm a YouTuber person living in Japan, it is my job to go and check such things out.
So let's go and see if the future has arrived!
Let's go and see if the Henna Hotel is actually any good.
Siri, are you ready for an adventure?
I can't answer that.
Billions of dollars. So much personality.
The hotel lobby feels very much alive with numerous automated robots working away.
It's looks more like a scene out of Universal Studios than a conventional hotel lobby.
Omg
That's- That's terrifying!
It's a bit like being in Jurassic Park
I'm expecting a robotic Jeff Goldblum to come out of the cupboard in a minute.
Hello!
Yeah!
This is really creepy and they won't stop moving.
So this is the check-in desk.
Instead of people, there's velo-
There's velociraptors in-
Shut up. Shut up!
There's velociraptors with hats instead of people.
"Please use the touch panel to select your language."
He's a multilingual dinosaur
Japanese, English, Chinese - No problem!
We're gonna check in
It's interesting. The robot actually gestured towards the machine.
Ok! We got a room card without humans! No human involvement.
Just a robot dinosaur velociraptor. That's all you need.
Who needs humans anyway?
So these little dinosaurs, apparently, some kids get a bit scared when they come in through those doors
And see a giant 20-foot T-Rex, as you would.
So they've got these little dinosaurs that are kind of wacky and stupid
To kind of make the kids feel at ease when they come here.
Yeah!
Dinosaurs aside, there's also a terrifying-looking robotic recycling bin
An automated vacuum cleaner
And even a window cleaning robot.
But my favorite thing in the lobby had to be the fish
Which I'd assumed were actually real when I first saw them out of the corner of my eye.
It reminds me of Horizon Zero Dawn, the video game where all the animals are robots.
And they act, eerily, like real fish.
I really want one! I don't know why. I just do.
The Henna Hotel has two aims, apparently.
The first is to be fun and the second is to have as few staff as possible.
Less staff means lower costs.
Although at 14,000 yen per night, the hotel was still slightly above the average cost of a hotel in the local area.
That said, the rooms themselves had a few special features to give them the edge.
Including the one thing that we all really want in our hotel room.
That's right! A robot talking egg!
Oh!
So this is called Tapia and it's a robot egg concierge that's in every single room in the hotel
Such idealistic music
Happy music for a happy time
This is a list of all the stuff you can do with it.
It can turn on the light, switch on the TV, and -
"Hi! How are you doing?"
I'm good.
Switch on the TV!
"I turned on the TV!"
Ta-da! Magic!
So you can do stuff like that, which is quite cool because talking is a lot easier than pressing buttons.
It can also do other stuff. You can get your fortune.
Which I'm certainly interested in.
"Tell me your birthday and I'll read you your horoscope."
My birthday, April 21st.
"I heard that your birthday is April 21st, is this correct?"
It is correct.
And now we're gonna get my fortune.
From a robot... egg.
I'm sorry...
"Relationships involve hard work"
"But you're willing to lean into the tasks at hand in order to achieve positive results"
Apparently, I'm gonna do well at work??
My love life - not so well.
And money - not so well either.
There's a reason I don't read horoscopes.
What else have we got?
This rather strange looking thing is a
Wow! Apparently, it's like a wardrobe from the future!
Because you put your clothes in and it kind of cleans them using some sort of air purification process
that I can't possibly comprehend.
Looks great. It looks really great. It looks like something out of Ghost in The Shell, so I quite like that.
And the beds are supposed to be special. The mattress is completely unique to the hotel
It's called Blessed! Blessed Air!
Apparently, it distributes your weight evenly over the bed, so it's supposed to be hard, but
be comfortable. Yeah, it's good! It's nice!
My weight has been distributed over the bed
83 kilograms. Evenly distributed.
I shouldn't have told you that.
Shit.
The hotel plans to expand overseas in the coming years and the concept certainly does have some potential.
Although, I suspect many customers would miss the human touch.
And there's no doubt that some salarymen might be a bit alienated walking into a hotel to be greeted by robot dinosaurs!
Especially when there's not even a robotic Jeff Goldblum.
But what do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
So, the Henna Hotel: Is it strange? Yes! It's pretty strange
But if you like robots or want an inside into what hotels might look like in the future
Come visit the Henna Hotel.
Thanks for watching, guys! See ya next time.