Dinosaurs Have Come Back from Extinction as Hotel Receptionists In Japan

A new Japanese hotel in Nagasaki seems more like Jurassic Park than home away from home.

At Henn-na Hotel, a dinosaur robot points guests to the touch screen where they can check themselves in at the hotel in southwestern Japan, which is part of the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park. In hotel rooms, a “lamp-size robot” can tell guests the time, the weather, and turn off the lights for them. Others are supposed to be able to deliver room service. And a robotic arm can hand guests a box for storing their valuables and then put the box into the wall.

The hotel is using the robots “to save labor costs,” the Associated Press reports.

But robots can’t do everything. Humans are watching the security cameras and, as hotel runner Hideo Sawada told the AP, “They still can’t make beds.”

These Robots Have Their Own World Cup

Humanoid robots are seen at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn July 3, 2014.

Ina Fassbender—Reuters

Research associates Larry Vadakedathu and Qin He work with one of their RoboCup entries, a 5-foot-tall metal humanoid named THOR (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot), in the adult-size league at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on July 7, 2014.

Matt Rourke—AP

Robocup Junior teams in RoboCup Robot Soccer Championship on July 21, 2014.

Lorena Travassos—Fotoarena/Corbis

Members of the Rhoban project's team check functions of a humanoid robot at the LaBRI workshop in Talence, France on July 7, 2014.

Regis Devignau—Reuters

People work on the software of humanoid robots during a photo opportunity at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany on July 3, 2014.

Ina Fassbender—Reuters

Students at the University of Pennsylvania work with one of their RoboCup entries known as Nao in Philadelphia on July 7, 2014.

Matt Rourke—AP

The first day of the RoboCup Robot Soccer Championship in João Pessoa, Brazil on July 21, 2014.

Lorena Travassos—Fotoarena/Corbis

A participant from the Netherlands prepares his humanoid robot for a soccer match in the international robotics competition in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014.

Vahid Salemi—AP

Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014.

Vahid Salemi—AP

Trophies won by humanoid robots at competitions are seen during a photo opportunity at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany on July 3, 2014.

Ina Fassbender—Reuters

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.