by Terence Lee*
Instead of having a person serve coffee or food to your hotel room, robots could soon perform that task.
Meet the Relay, a friendly-looking and curvy robot with a compartment that lets hotel staff put things inside and deliver them to guests.
Created by Californian company Savioke, Relay has made 11,000 guest deliveries at five hotel brands. Its cargo? Starbucks coffee.
It’s early days for the Relay, but if these robots are as cost-effective and efficient as they claim to be, expect to see them deployed everywhere in the near future.
Robots have been replacing human labor for decades. But they won’t just toil away in factories forever.
Aerial drones have been used in warfare. They’re used to take stunning photography.
Now a robot can serve coffee to your hotel room Robots could soon haul bulky items in warehouses, drive you around, make latte art, serve food in a restaurant, or even take the form of a suitcase that follows you around.
So what’s next for Savioke? An Asian expansion could be in the works, since it recently received an investment from EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, as well as Chinese fund Northern Light Venture Capital.
