“She was good,” a Waldorf Astoria representative told Decrypt. “She helped with lines at our front desk and entertained guests.” But Pepper was eventually retired, possibly after being damaged by visitors. “Someone got rough with it,” the employee said, noting that parts had gone missing.
However, it remains to be seen how much humans will accept robots taking over the travel industry and removing the “human touch” the industry has been known for.
While humanoid robots grab attention with their lifelike appearances, experts say the real transformation is more subtle.