For ensuring better service to its customers, private sector lender HDFC Banks have deployed a mobile robot assistant at the Kamala Mills Branch, near its corporate headquarters.
The interactive humanoid named IRA (Intelligent Robotic Assistant) will help branch staff in servicing customers, reported the Economic Times.
Explaining about the initiative, Nitin Chugh, Country Head, Digital Banking, HDFC Bank said, “In the next 18-24 months we are looking at atleast 15-20 humanoids in our branches with different manifestations and versions, it may be different looking with a different name. Specific humanoids will be built to cater to needs of customers in those branches.”
The Humanoids have been developed using Robotics and Artificial Intelligence technologies.
Reportedly, IRA will be positioned near the Welcome Desk, where it will greet customers and guide them to the relevant counter in the branch such as Cash Deposit, Foreign Exchange, Loans, among others in the first phase.
In the next phase, IRA’s capabilities will be enhanced further by introducing features such as Voice and Face recognition for customer identification, Voice-guided navigation, Balance enquiry, and Cheque deposit among others.
The bank also has plans to connect its core banking platform to the humanoid to enable it to perform banking transactions.
He added, “We have kept a very open architecture so that we built some capabilities for one set of customers and in some other cases we might have different capabilities.”
“I don’t see a situation where you will see the same replica everywhere. It may not be in the same shape and form the next time, it may be a different version but we feel it’s better to be in the same shape and form the next time, it may be a different version but we feel it’s better to be in the area of humanoids rather than robotic machines.”
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