Soon you will be greeted and assisted by humanoids at HDFC Bank branches

Christened Ira, the robot will be installed at the welcome desk and will give directions to customers, in addition to helping them with various other jobs such as transactions

India’s second largest private lender HDFC Bank plans to install nearly 20 humanoids (robots) at its branches over the next couple of years, according to a PTI report.

The bank has partnered with Kochi-based startup Asimov Robotics for the same.

Christened Ira, the robot will be installed at the welcome desk of various branches, which will give directions to customers, in addition to helping them with various other jobs such as transactions.

The announcement was made by Nitin Chugh, Head (Digital Banking) at HDFC, at a press conference.

Chugh, however, mentioned that the introduction of humanoids will not lead to any job losses.

HDFC is not the first bank to install humanoids in India. Last year, City Union Bank had introduced robot at some of its branches in the country.

Asimov provides engineering products solutions and consultancy in the areas like robotic simulation and control, machine-vision, training, virtual reality, and navigation applications.  Its products include Cool Arm manipulator (used to assemble and
deliver the customer specific solutions fast), X-Terrabot Mobile manipulator (agricultural robotic applications, routine material transport in factories, warehouses, office buildings), Virtual Reality chair (which can emulate physical presence in virtual world through sensory experiences such as vision, sound, touch, smell, and taste, etc.), and Lamarck Humanoid (they facilitate the study of embodied cognition and the replication of simple tasks undertaken by humans), among others.