We are one step closer to Blade Runner if a new robotic poker dealer becomes a regular fixture at the tables.
We often worry about facing bots at the poker table, but they are usually online, and they are usually other players. Paradise Entertainment, however, plan to bring these 'lifelike' robotic dealers to live card rooms in the US.
This is 'Min' the prototype robot dealer. Right now according to Bloomberg, she can only perform basic card dealing functions, but in the future could be as sophisticated as to recognise customer faces and speak in several languages.
The plan is to release them in the United States, where dealer costs are much higher than in Europe and Asia. It also is suggested this could be a way around a rule that humans are not allowed to deal card games in certain US States.
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<figcaption style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-size: 12.6px; color: gray; text-align: center;">The robotic poker dealer</figcaption></figure>30% faster and more accurateThis is not the first live poker table with automated card dealers, a number of electronic tables with no real dealer have been in circulation for years. There are also some online casino games that, to give an authentic feel to their online customers, have a real life croupier in a studio, rather than just a virtual one.
While you are obviously unable to interact in the same way with these robotic dealers as you would a real person, they are estimated to be much more accurate and around 30% faster than their human counterparts.
'Min' is not the only robot dealer we can expect to see in the near future, as'Hanson Robotics' have also been reported to have sold a robot dealer to an unnamed gaming company.
