China’s Alibaba opens ‘hotel of the future’ with automated check-in, biometrics and voice-control

[Hamartia Antidote]

Roughly what I have seen is Chinese are a copy of Japan when it comes to novelties. These things have limited impact in hotel operations. Quite sometime back there was a gimmicky sound system from Sony which used hand gestures to control volume etc. People still preferred a remote.

 

[BringHarmony]

Thats the hotel that I linked to. But then I got "Chinese hotels are so clean and blah blah blah.". Oh Well! They are still Chinese.

 

[beijingwalker]

In Alibaba hotel there's no recetionists and checking in and checking out is just show your face.

 

[master_13]

Actually, a lot of such hotels have existed for quite sometime in Japan. These are more of a tourist attraction than real hotels. China is merely a neophyte in this arena. Oh, BTW, voice recognition existed since 1990s.

apparently you don't understand the concept of "maturity", I said it only matured over the past 3 years. 1990s voice recognition technology can only recognize few words and with strict accent.

Roughly what I have seen is Chinese are a copy of Japan when it comes to novelties. These things have limited impact in hotel operations. Quite sometime back there was a gimmicky sound system from Sony which used hand gestures to control volume etc. People still preferred a remote.

A copy of what exactly? The chinese version is so much more technologically advanced without needing a single staff. Japanese version is only limited to tourist attraction because their technology aren't good enough to make it commercially viable, Chinese version will actually make it commercially available and leaving Japanese version in the dust.

There are already hotel chains with voice recognition in rooms. Here is one chain in the US:

We also have robots delivering food (not the old small ones that can only hold a bottle of soda) and luggage to your room. They also open doors.

so you are comparing Chinese version that doesn't need a single staff and everything fully automated with US version that use few technologies as compliment instead of replacement. Every single one of these US hotel still need multiple staff just to get people checked in. While Chinese version use facial recognition for people to access their rooms.

 

[BringHarmony]

In Alibaba hotel there's no recetionists and checking in and checking out is just show your face.

And? BTW do you know the concept of affordances in interface design?

That video was from Hen na Hotel. Using robots as receptionists.

apparently you don't understand the concept of "maturity", I said it only matured over the past 3 years. 1990s voice recognition technology can only recognize few words and with strict accent.

Try loading Dragon Naturally Speaking sometimes and try it out. It worked remarkably well even in late 90s to early 2000.

Oh, and the Japanese hotel is from 2014 or so, when voice recognition was more than mature. Siri was actually launched in 2011.

There is a reason why I call Chinese as neophytes in technology.

A copy of what exactly? The chinese version is so much more technologically advanced without needing a single staff. Japanese version is only limited to tourist attraction because their technology aren't good enough to make it commercially viable, Chinese version will actually make it commercially available and leaving Japanese version in the dust.

This is the problem with Chinese. Okay, lemme approach it in another way.

Why do you think most people buy car? Hint, its NOT to appreciate the latest in motor technology or even self-driving AI.

Likewise, why do most people rent a room to stay in a hotel? Hint, again it has nothing to do with technology.

Latest technology with a pathetic interface will always fail. And no, none of these AI have an interface good enough for any hotel which takes itself seriously to bet its business on it.

Take it from a guy who actually has developed quite a few deep learning systems. Still there is a reason that I operate in HVAC business. Its called bottom line and it is not defined completely by technology.

 

[beijingwalker]

Never say never. You don't know where new technologies take you and who will come out victoriously in the end. but jugding from the current development and scale of investment, I would say China has a big chance, I wouldn't say the same about Japan.

 

[master_13]

And? BTW do you know the concept of affordances in interface design?

That video was from Hen na Hotel. Using robots as receptionists.


Try loading Dragon Naturally Speaking sometimes and try it out. It worked remarkably well even in late 90s to early 2000.

Oh, and the Japanese hotel is from 2014 or so, when voice recognition was more than mature. Siri was actually launched in 2011.

There is a reason why I call Chinese as neophytes in technology.


This is the problem with Chinese. Okay, lemme approach it in another way.

Why do you think most people buy car? Hint, its NOT to appreciate the latest in motor technology or even self-driving AI.

Likewise, why do most people rent a room to stay in a hotel? Hint, again it has nothing to do with technology.

Latest technology with a pathetic interface will always fail. And no, none of these AI have an interface good enough for any hotel which takes itself seriously to bet its business on it.

Take it from a guy who actually has developed quite a few deep learning systems. Still there is a reason that I operate in HVAC business. Its called bottom line and it is not defined completely by technology.

Seriously? you actually developed quite a few system yet you know nothing about maturity of voice recognition system? The voice recognition system only took off when AI really started to take off 3 years ago. The original Siri was an awful product and repeatedly made mistakes in understanding languages. The very original voice recognition tech only try to match some words and few pre-determined sentences. Only in the last 3 years, with the aid of AI, voice recognition was able to recognize intention instead of just words. So instead of just understanding "what's my room number" as exactly prescribed in the algorithm, it now understands multiple variation such as "where's my room located", "is my room toward the sun or no"... These techs weren't available with the Japanese hotel, and only started come to the scene few years ago, so no, you can't compare what Japanese has with what Chinese has, Chinese is way ahead in these types of AI enabled voice recognition systems. So looks like the only neophyte in these technology are the Japanese.

Never say never. You don't know where new technologies take you and who will come out victoriously in the end. but jugding from the current development and scale of investment, I would say China has a big chance, I wouldn't say the same about Japan.

this guys is an idiot and pretends he knows about deep learning and AI. LOL. China is way ahead in AI enabled voice/facial recognition than the Japanese, hands down.

 

[BringHarmony]

Seriously? you actually developed quite a few system yet you know nothing about maturity of voice recognition system? The voice recognition system only took off when AI really started to take off 3 years ago. The original Siri was an awful product and repeatedly made mistakes in understanding languages. The very original voice recognition tech only try to match some words and few pre-determined sentences. Only in the last 3 years, with the aid of AI, voice recognition was able to recognize intention instead of just words. So instead of just understanding "what's my room number" as exactly prescribed in the algorithm, it now understands multiple variation such as "where's my room located", "is my room toward the sun or no"... These techs weren't available with the Japanese hotel, and only started come to the scene few years ago, so no, you can't compare what Japanese has with what Chinese has, Chinese is way ahead in these types of AI enabled voice recognition systems. So looks like the only neophyte in these technology are the Japanese.

Oh? May I ask what do you mean by "AI"? Because you seriously do not know what you are talking about.
Hint: "AI" existed since 60s. Ever heard of Dendral? Mycin? And what they achieved even in 1960?

Also, "intent" modelling has existed for quite some-time. Voice operated system, sure again for quite some time.

Last but not least. Do you know who invented the very key discovery behind the current flood of research in "AI", including voice recognition?
Hint: it was no Chinese.
Also, who is at the current bleeding edge of "AI" research to actually go beyond the current state-of-the-Art?
Hint: Again, it is not Chinese.

You seriously don't know what you are arguing.

Never say never. You don't know where new technologies take you and who will come out victoriously in the end. but jugding from the current development and scale of investment, I would say China has a big chance, I wouldn't say the same about Japan.

Ugh!
See, I will leave you with this thought. When it comes to technological innovation, CMU Mach has perhaps the best-known design for OS kernel. In fact, taking its principles, likes of Richard Stallman and his merry band of hackers put together a great OS kernel called GNU/Hurd. Interestingly, it never became popular or even production ready.

Reason? People do not care about technological innovations. They care about their problems and their solutions.

So you can have the bleeding edge technology, but unless you have a problem it solves, it will be of no use. There is a reason why People buy cars and its not because of its latest technology like self-driving AI etc. Its to go from point A to point B. Simple!

There is a reason why I mostly hire a hotel room. To spend a comfortable night and not to play with some AI toys. Unless the "AI" or voice recognition brings some significant advantage to me, I will pass on it as a novelty.

I myself have worked in this "Deep Learning" field and I left it. Why? Well the highest salaries offered are of the range of 250K CDN. I have to run my own business to make more money than that. And I just did that. Only, I found an existing area in Heating Ventilation and AirCon with more money to mint than to make the latest and greatest deep learning based sentiment analysis system which I don't know who will even need.

Market is driven by demand and supply and technology is only an enabler, not the business itself. I don't know how but this simple fact is lost on most Chinese on this forum. They have drunk some weird Tech-kool-aid with CCCP spices added to it.

 

[Tshering22]

Technology beyond a point makes it very uncomfortable as people will lose touch with the 'humanity' in services. Honestly speaking, if I am on a trip with my family to some other place, I'd rather be pleased to see someone human to help me out - at least at the reception, if not at the room.

Imagine how boring it would be to have a digital interface for everything.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

so you are comparing Chinese version that doesn't need a single staff and everything fully automated with US version that use few technologies as compliment instead of replacement. Every single one of these US hotel still need multiple staff just to get people checked in. While Chinese version use facial recognition for people to access their rooms.

No, I was pointing out examples of hotels already using the tech mentioned.
I didn't say one was using all of them at once.

Winn Hotel: Voice activation in hotel rooms
Sheraton: Robot luggage carriers and a new generation of food delivery to room robots which can handle more than just a bottle of water.
Japan: no staff at all, checkin youself, facial recognition to open room doors, voice activation in hotel room.

 

[BringHarmony]

No, I was pointing out examples of hotels already using the tech mentioned.
I didn't say one was using all of them at once.

Winn Hotel: Voice activation in hotel rooms
Sheraton: Robot luggage carriers and a new generation of food delivery to room robots which can handle more than just a bottle of water.
Japan: no staff at all, checkin youself, facial recognition to open room doors, voice activation in hotel room.

Honestly, a properly planned hotel which is serious about using Tech/AI for profit will use it in background while keeping the familiar faces in the front. Like:

1. Using robots and computer vision to categorize garbage and sort it.
2. Using ditto to speed up kitchen and help line chefs in their kitchen.
3. Using computer vision for iron clad security, cleanliness and most importantly safety.
4. Using ML to boost their advertising and getting an edge in filling the vacancies. The biggest revenue loss in hospitality business is simple vacancies not being filled. duh.


I think a number of these things are already being implemented or have been implemented.
The kind of AI this videos show are home automation and gimmicky one. I mean, how it matter if I have to turn a key to enter my room or something scans my face. If at all as a business I will keep the look and feel familiar with what people are used to and use all the tech to enable that business.

Oh well, enough ranting.

 

[master_13]

Oh? May I ask what do you mean by "AI"? Because you seriously do not know what you are talking about.
Hint: "AI" existed since 60s. Ever heard of Dendral? Mycin? And what they achieved even in 1960?

Also, "intent" modelling has existed for quite some-time. Voice operated system, sure again for quite some time.

Last but not least. Do you know who invented the very key discovery behind the current flood of research in "AI", including voice recognition?
Hint: it was no Chinese.
Also, who is at the current bleeding edge of "AI" research to actually go beyond the current state-of-the-Art?
Hint: Again, it is not Chinese.

You seriously don't know what you are arguing.


Ugh!
See, I will leave you with this thought. When it comes to technological innovation, CMU Mach has perhaps the best-known design for OS kernel. In fact, taking its principles, likes of Richard Stallman and his merry band of hackers put together a great OS kernel called GNU/Hurd. Interestingly, it never became popular or even production ready.

Reason? People do not care about technological innovations. They care about their problems and their solutions.

So you can have the bleeding edge technology, but unless you have a problem it solves, it will be of no use. There is a reason why People buy cars and its not because of its latest technology like self-driving AI etc. Its to go from point A to point B. Simple!

There is a reason why I mostly hire a hotel room. To spend a comfortable night and not to play with some AI toys. Unless the "AI" or voice recognition brings some significant advantage to me, I will pass on it as a novelty.

I myself have worked in this "Deep Learning" field and I left it. Why? Well the highest salaries offered are of the range of 250K CDN. I have to run my own business to make more money than that. And I just did that. Only, I found an existing area in Heating Ventilation and AirCon with more money to mint than to make the latest and greatest deep learning based sentiment analysis system which I don't know who will even need.

Market is driven by demand and supply and technology is only an enabler, not the business itself. I don't know how but this simple fact is lost on most Chinese on this forum. They have drunk some weird Tech-kool-aid with CCCP spices added to it.

Do you even know what you talking about here? So instead of focusing on issues here, which is voice recognize didn't mature until few years ago, you started distracting and ask how invented AI, I mean seriously? I'm in this field and travel to Silicon Valley often, and no, the voice recognition enable by AI through big data (again only in the last few years) only matured over the last 3 years, there's a reason previous technology was never widely adopted. Even today, voice recognition still have many kinks that needed to be worked out, but it's already 100x better than previous technology. Yeah, guess what? I make hell lot more than 300K USD in this field, and you obviously can't argue the fact that voice recognition only matured over the past 3 years. Previous AI never had big data to work with, so current crop of AI is not even the same as previous AI. So what best AI is not chinese, and neither are they Japanese. The fact is Chinese AI is much better than Japanese AI right now, that's the whole point.

No, I was pointing out examples of hotels already using the tech mentioned.
I didn't say one was using all of them at once.

Winn Hotel: Voice activation in hotel rooms
Sheraton: Robot luggage carriers and a new generation of food delivery to room robots which can handle more than just a bottle of water.
Japan: no staff at all, checkin youself, facial recognition to open room doors, voice activation in hotel room.

Japanese hotel doesn't have facial recognition like the China does, so even the best one you mentioned here is not on the same level as the Chinese one.

 

[BringHarmony]

So instead of focusing on issues here, which is voice recognize didn't mature until few years ago

Prove it. Prove that voice recognition was not mature by 2014.
And what do you mean by not mature?
What mAP you think as mature?
What recall you think as mature?

BTW, are you aware of Precision Recall tradeoff and Precision Recall graph? The same detector can be made more precise at expense of recall and vice versa.

Japanese hotel doesn't have facial recognition like the China does, so even the best one you mentioned here is not on the same level as the Chinese one.

It does actually.
BTW Facial recognition in a controlled picture where you don't have to do detection has been a solved problem since late 1980s. Search about Eigenface and PCA. And this was 80s.

Modern Deep Learning based face recognition has made face recognition in uncontrolled natural setting more accurate.

 

[master_13]

Prove it. Prove that voice recognition was not mature by 2014.
And what do you mean by not mature?
What mAP you think as mature?
What recall you think as mature?

BTW, are you aware of Precision Recall tradeoff and Precision Recall graph? The same detector can be made more precise at expense of recall and vice versa.


It does actually.
BTW Facial recognition in a controlled picture where you don't have to do detection has been a solved problem since late 1980s. Search about Eigenface and PCA. And this was 80s.

Modern Deep Learning based face recognition has made face recognition in uncontrolled natural setting more accurate.

Prove what? the fact that companies adopting voice recognition at unprecedented scale in the last 3 to 4 years is the proof. No, 80s facial recognition never achieved similar accuracy and scale as modern day facial recognition based on big data, and big data only came onto the scene 7 to 8 years ago, so it's not even close.

 

[BringHarmony]

Prove what? the fact that companies adopting voice recognition at unprecedented scale in the last 3 to 4 years is the proof.

So Siri in Apple iphones (2011) is not a scale big enough?
How about Cortana in windows? (2013)
Or How about Google glass? (2013) Remember, "Okay Google" voice commands?
Or How about Nuance's Voice recognition (Started in 1997 and updated all through present).

I will ask again, whats your definition of "Mature Technology"?
Also, What is the meaning of unprecedented scale?

No, 80s facial recognition never achieved similar accuracy and scale as modern day facial recognition based

How do you measure accuracy? What is your criteria of accuracy? What do you call accurate?
Do you know the meaning of Recall and Precision in recognition system?

Here is a precision recall curve of Eigenface.

You can choose your precision to be 99.9% if you want by limiting recall to 50%.

and big data only came onto the scene 7 to 8 years ago, so it's not even close.

Do you know which was the first "popular" "Big Data" application? Do you really?
Ever heard of inverted index calculation? Relevancy calculation?
Hint : "Big Data" has been in use since early 2000. For a very very well known and vast scale problem. And no, even the term "Big Data" or its hype goes back to 2005 or so with release of BigTable object store by Google. All of these things are 20 years old at least.

Once again you don't know what you are talking about.