Humanoid Robot Introduced in Miami to Assist Hotels, Restaurants, and Senior Care Facilities
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
Luka, a humanoid robot that also speaks Spanish and is being developed by the U.S. company VaultBots, was unveiled on Friday at a robotics panel during 'AI 305', the artificial intelligence forum at Florida International University (FIU). 'Luka is not going to replace any jobs. In fact, it will enhance them all,' said VaultBots founder and CEO Gary Khachatryan regarding whether robots like this will take over jobs in hotels and restaurants. Luka can assist during peak hours or recommend local restaurants to guests, allowing humans more time to interact with customers while the robot handles some of the heavy lifting. During the panel, Anthony Abrahao from FIU's Applied Robotics Laboratory shared that in 2025, workers at the Hanford nuclear complex in Washington initially reacted negatively to their robots out of fear of job loss, but after using them, they requested more. Luka is already capable of walking, guiding people, and answering questions in eighty languages, including Spanish, but it requires human control via a type of tablet. Gabriel Campos, a sales executive at VaultBots, mentioned that the robot still cannot perform all its functions independently and needs a person to assist. Khachatryan explained that each robot has operators, an emergency shut-off button, and a protocol for transferring conversations to a human employee. Luka's cameras can record events around it, such as crimes, but the data is processed in the cloud and does not remain stored anywhere, Khachatryan assured, without specifying what happens to those recordings. 'Basically, it just talks like Siri (Apple's voice assistant), but it doesn't retain any information,' he explained. This lack of memory is expected to change with future generations, according to Khachatryan: 'Next time it comes, it would know where it is and recognize people.' He estimated that robots will learn to adapt on their own within three to five years, with a minimum of three. Campos estimated that in nearly three years, with cheaper parts, a robot like Luka will cost around $20,000, but currently, it is priced at $100,000. Luka is manufactured in China at AgiBot's facility, although VaultBots plans to start production in Miami in about a year, Campos noted. For now, the company has two units available for rent or sale, primarily for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and events and conferences. When asked what it would do if it were human, Luka replied, 'The first thing would be to savor a good Cuban coffee while strolling through Little Havana (...), I would also love to dance a little salsa and enjoy live music,' it added.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
