World's Rudest Robot Set to Simulate Call Center Fury

To beat the average exasperated CRM (customer-relationship-management) victim, that is going to have to be one very angry robot. JL

Jasper Hamill reports in The Mirror:

Anyone who has to shout their name at a voice-recognition system will confirm automated call systems are the most annoying things on the planet. A tech firm has unveiled the world's angriest robot, designed to train call center staff in the sensitive art of dealing with frustrated humans.
A tech firm has unveiled the world's angriest robot, which is designed to help train call centre staff in the sensitive art of dealing with frustrated humans.
As anyone who has to shout their name at a voice-recognition system will confirm, automated call systems are among the most annoying things on the planet.
Now a New Zealand-based company called Touchpoint Group is ploughing $500,000 into the development of a system called Radiant to help make the experience a little less hellish.
The grumpy droid will simulate angry customers to show which parts of the of the call centre experience is most irritating.
Chief executive Frank van der Velden said the raging robot would constantly run "what if" scenarios, allowing staff to predict how and when customers will explode in anger.
"We’re not in the business of managing complaints, we are in the business of managing issues that might turn into complaints," he told The Australian."We’re at the top of the cliff, not at the bottom. This will allow companies to better predict and identify those issues.”
This doesn't mean his firm has committed suicide. Far from it.
What he means - we assume - is that his system will help companies to catch problems before they end in disaster.
"The end goal is to build an engine that can recommend solutions to companies — and we’re talking about the people at the frontline here — how they can improve particular issues that customers are facing,” Der Velden added.
“This will be possible by enabling our artificial intelligence engine to learn right across a whole range of interactions of what has and has not worked in past examples.”
Does this mean an end to annoying lists of mysterious 'press a number to continue' options?
We hope so. And if it doesn't, we'll be VERY ANNOYED.