Robot welcomes patients in 20 languages

Two hospitals in Belgium have started using 20-language reception robots and can escort patients to the requested location.

Mirror yesterday reported that two hospitals in Belgium began using robots at the reception desk to serve patients. Pepper's assistant, Pepper, speaks slowly and swayingly while on the move, but is friendly enough to welcome visitors to the Ostend and Liege hospitals.

Pepper Robot. (Taken from the clip).

With a screen on the chest and a circular head, Pepper is the first robot in the world to be used to welcome people in a hospital environment. A robot developed by SoftBank Robotics in Japan.

Introduced at the Center Hospitalier Regional La Citadelle in Liege, the robot is 1.4 meters high, wheeled and recognizable in 20 languages. Pepper can also distinguish who is talking in front of a woman or child.

In the future, Pepper can escort the patient to the requested site, such as at the AZ Damiaan hospital in Ostend.

"Before, robots were tested at Japanese stores and shopping malls in France, but this is the first time they have appeared at the reception desk," said a spokesman for SoftBank Robotics.