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A robot shop assistant was hired and fired by a Scottish supermarket after just a week because he couldn't understand customers.

'Shopbot' Fabio was being trialled at Margiotta's flagship Edinburgh store in an experience run by Heriot-Watt University's Interaction Lab for the BBC’s Six Robots & US .

Fabio, programmed with directions to hundreds of items in-store, initially won over customers with his 'hello gorgeous' greeting and offers of hugs, Insider.co.uk reports .

But within a few days it was noticed he was struggling to understand customers' requests because of background noise.

As a result when asked, for instance, where to find beer he would just say 'it's in the alcohol section'.

He was then sent to an aisle where he was only allowed to offer samples of pulled pork.

But while his human colleagues tempted 12 customers to try some of it every 15 minutes, Fabio managed just two.

(Image: BBC)

Elena Margiotta, who runs the shops with father Franco and sister Louisa, told The Telegraph: "We thought a robot was a great addition to show the customers we are always wanting to do something new and exciting."

But Luisa realised in fact shoppers were going out of their way to avoid Fabio.

She said: “Conversations didn't always go well. An issue we had was the movement limitations of the robot. It was not able to move around the shop and direct customers to the items they were looking for.

“Instead it just gave a general location, for example, 'cheese is in the fridges', which was not very helpful.”

However staff were reported reduced to tears when Franco told the robot they would not be renewing his contract and it replied: "Are you angry?"

Dr Oliver Lemon, director of the Interaction Lab at Heriot-Watt , said: “One of things we didn't expect was the people working in the shop became quite attached to it.

“When we had to pack it up and put it back in the box one of them started crying.

“It was good in a way, because we thought the opposite would happen and they would feel threatened by it because it was competing for their job.

“In actual fact they thought it was an enhancement because it was able to deal with frequent and boring requests, like customers constantly asking where things are, which I think they found quite helpful.”