VIDEO: California Hotel Hires Robot Butlers to Provide Room Service

If you Plan to Stay in Cupertino's High-Tech Aloft Hotel in the Near Future, Don't be Surprised if you Open your Door to a 3-Foot-Tall Robot Carrying Extra Towels or Breakfast. See, it's the Starwood Property's New Butler (Officially Called, "A.L.O. Botlr", which is Short for "Robot Butler", of Course) Programmed to Assist the Hotel's Concierge in Catering to your Requests. The 100-Pound Machine Comes Loaded with a 7-Inch Tablet Screen to Interact with Guests and Staff, as well as, 4G and Wi-Fi Connections so, it Can Call Elevators When it Needs a Ride. Let's Say you Pinged Front Desk to Ask for New Toiletries -- the Staff then just Loads the Items (as Long as they Don't Exceed 2 Pounds) in an Empty Compartment on Top of the Robot and Inputs your Floor and Room Number on the Tablet Interface.


You'll Know Botlr's Lurking Outside the Door When it Calls Up the Room's Phone and instead of a Crisp $20 Bill, All it Asks in Return is a Tweet with the #meetbotlr Hashtag. The "A.L.O. Botlr" is actually a Repainted, Bow-Tie-Wearing Version of a Robot Called, 'SaviOne', Developed by California Startup Savioke. It's a New Company but, it's Backed by Google Ventures and Led by Steve Cousins, the Former CEO of Willow Garage, which you Might Recognize as the Developer of the PR2 Experimental Robot. In Fact, the PR2 Looks Similar to "Botlr" but, the Latter (like Softbank's 'Pepper') was Designed to Look a Lot More Approachable so as Not to Scare Hotel Guests. Also, the Newer Machine Lacks the PR2's Limbs, which Means: 1.) it's Incapable of Doing Tasks that Requires the Use of Hands and 2.) its a Lot Cheaper to Make, Seeing as those Limbs are the PR2's Most Expensive Components.


"Botlr" will Make its Aloft Hotel Debut on August 20 for a Pilot Program: if Successful, All 100+ Aloft Hotels could Have 1 to 2 at their Disposal. Aloft Brand's Senior Vice-President, Brian McGuinness Swears, however, that these Robots Won't be Replacing Human Employees and will Even Free Them Up for Other, More Important Tasks. Sadly, you Won't be Seeing "Botlr" Rolling along Other Hotel Chains' Hallways Anytime Soon. Starwood has an Exclusive Deal with Savioke until the End of 2014, though the Startup Plans to Open the Pilot to Other Hotels Next Year.




Info Sources:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101911755

http://mashable.com/2014/08/12/robot-concierge-tweets-tips

http://www.savioke.com/blog

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/meetbotlr-aloft-hotels-recruits-robot-to-join-team-in-cupertino-2014-08-12