I am fascinated with the kind of obsession that humans have for robots. The latest milestone in the robotics field is that the Aizu Central Hospital near Tokyo has become the first hospital in the world to have an android receptionist and two porters. With most of the progress in this area happening in Japan, this bit of news doesn’t really come as a surprise.

The robots produced by Japanese robot maker Tmsuk have been hired at a cost of $508,000.
The blue receptionist robot welcomes visitors and answers spoken queries while the green porters (seen in the picture above) can help them find their destination while carrying their luggage at the same time. Hospital official Naoya Narita says, "By introducing them, we want to show the scene of a future hospital, where robots are getting along with patients and visitors."

If this is where the future services industry of Japan is heading, it will only add to the woes of an already disgruntled and out-of-work labor force. With all due respect to the tremendous applications that robots have had in the manufacturing industry, when it comes to caring, give me a human being any day. No robotic hospitals for me.

Via Yahoo! News.