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In the lobby of Odaiba’s large shopping mall near the sea in Tokyo, there is a handsome and attractive Miss Junco, wearing a navy blue shirt, white coat and dark gray pinstripe skirt, standing behind the counter at the mall’s guide, speaking Japanese, In Chinese and English, hand out guides to local attractions and shops for tourists shopping.

Pictured from NYT

If it weren’t for the crowd vying for pictures, you’d probably just see her as a slow-moving normal person.Actually, Miss Junco is arobot.

She is a product developed by the Japanese electronics company Toshiba in cooperation with the technology laboratories of several Japanese universities. There are a total of 4 units, and the total cost is 93,000 US dollars. But so far only Miss Junco is meeting with the public, and the other three are still in the lab. Toshiba plans to mass-produce 1,000 of these Robots in 2017 and 10,000 a year by 2020.

Miss Junco doesn’t have direct voice interaction, and visitors tap a screen at the counter to ask a question, such as “What’s your favorite food?”

Miss Junco would reply: “I especially like watermelons and Japanese pears.”

But if you look at Miss Junco a little more closely, you can still see her characteristics as a robot. She can smile and blink, but her eyes can only be closed halfway. Looking at this expression, she will mistakenly think that she is expressing disdain for something. Miss Junco can sing, but her mouth doesn’t move when she sings “My Heart Will Go On”.

The camp of simulated robots in Japan is very strong, and they are gradually coming out of the laboratory to contact ordinary people.

In addition to Miss Junco, there is also Miss Yumeko, who works as a receptionist at the front desk of a hotel in Nagasaki, along with a dinosaur robot. Ms. Yumeko can check in and out for clients, adjust interior lights, check room temperature, set alarms, and cheerfully remind clients that tomorrow will be a little cloudy. Today, these robot receptionists have become a major tourist feature of this hotel in Nagasaki.

Figure from Lockerdome

Among the simulation robots in Japan, the most famous one is Miss Matsuko Droid, who participated in the hosting of TV programs. Is it appropriate to be called “Miss”? Because the Matsuko Droid is modeled after the real Japanese TV personality Matsuko Deluxe. Lady Matsuko is a cross-dressing star, male, famous show host and writer, popular for her sharp words.

Pictured from NTV

If there is no text label, can you tell which one is the real person?

Today, the two Matsuko are co-hosting a popular late-night talk show in which the two chat casually, and the lady Matsuko usually ends up laughing at the robot’s clumsy cuteness!