The tech-assisted dream:
Automated assistants. AI helpers. Private robot butlers waiting by hand and wheel.
Making that dream a reality, with a side of hospitality:
Savioke’s rechargeable Relay Bot — a three-foot-tall, 100-pound machine that navigates using Wi-Fi and 3D cameras in order to dispense pre-loaded goods requested by unsuspecting hotel guests.
Automated accommodations are picking up stateside and robotic bellhops are already dishing out supplies like towels, toothpaste and bottled coffee to guests at 12 California hotels including the Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley and the Aloft Cupertino.
More practical than Japan’s robot-controlled Henn-na Hotel. Also decidedly less weird.
The current fleet of Relay models made more than 11,000 deliveries to guests last year.
While these Robo Bellhops never complain about long hours or working graveyard shifts, they do come with drawbacks. Namely their inability to handle hot food or wet towels.
Also lacking: empathy.
But hey, robots right? Skip the tip.
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