Bank of Taiwan unveils service robots at two branches
2016/05/19 19:37:29
Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Bank of Taiwan celebrated its 70th anniversary Thursday with the introduction of service robots at two of its Taipei locations.
The humanoid robots, 58-centimeter tall, will greet customers entering the bank, help them obtain a service number, and answer simple inquiries, Bank of Taiwan said.
The service will be launched at the bank's main location next to the Presidential Office and its Songjiang branch, both in Taipei, on the occasion of its 70th anniversary and will be extended to all branches nationwide in the future, said Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠), chairwoman of the state-owned bank.
Developed by the French company Aldebaran Robotics, the Nao model robots have been fitted with software developed by Bank of Taiwan, Lee said.
She said the idea of introducing robots into Bank of Taiwan's service emerged during her trip to Japan last summer when she saw Nao robots at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
At Thursday's launch, Bank of Taiwan demonstrated the robot's ability to interact with people and dance.
Bank of Taiwan, which has 164 branches in Taiwan and operates at 12 overseas locations, is not the first in Taiwan to introduce service robots.
In March, E. Sun Bank also adopted the use of the Nao robot at a new branch in Taipei that focuses on digital services, while Mega International Commercial Bank has a locally made robot that greets customers at its newly reopened Lanya branch in the Tianmu area in Taipei.
In January, First Bank announced a plan to work with Asia Pacific Telecom Co., a unit of the Hon Hai Group, to introduce the Pepper humanoid robot at its branches.
Pepper, which was jointly developed by SoftBank of Japan and Hon Hai, was launched on the Japanese market in June 2015.
(by Chiu Po-shen and Kay Liu)
