HITEC Dubai 2018: Intelligent humanoid robot to open event

Choosing the most exciting way to initiate an event, this year’s edition of HITEC Dubai is kicking off with Promobot, an intelligent humanoid robot, taking to the stage.

CEO, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), Frank Wolfe CAE enthused on the exciting news: “Hospitality robots are clearly at a tipping point. They’re now cost-effective to build, are attaining cultural acceptance and use sophisticated technology to safely live and work among us. We are delighted to have a robot leading the conference at HITEC Dubai.”

According to a report released by McKinsey & Company, by 2030, approximately 800 million workers around the world could be replaced by robots. Even if automation adoption is slower than anticipated, as many as 400 million people could still be affected.

However, according to World Economic Forum (WEF), robots in the workplace could create double the jobs they destroy – 133 million jobs could be created worldwide with the help of rapid technological advances in the workplace over the next decade, compared to the 75 million that could be displaced.

Advisory council chairperson, HITEC Dubai, Laurent A. Voivenel, who is also the senior vice president, operations and development – Middle East, Africa and India for Swiss-Belhotel International, noted: “Over the last decade technology has led to drastic transformation in the hospitality sector globally, as well as regionally, which has boosted competitiveness and efficiency in our industry while creating new opportunities. There’s no denying that robots are becoming common helpers in hospitality, showing up in hotels and restaurants around the world – from Japan’s all-robot hotel to other parts of the globe. It a growing trend and extremely useful in certain areas, and we are excited to see the new developments in the field at HITEC.”

HITEC Dubai 2018 takes place from December 5+6, 2018, at Madinat Jumeirah Dubai.

source: TTG mena