Important Innovations Collection

Here Comes the Robot with Your Coffee Accelerating Use of Robots in Hospitality Industry Labor shortages and rapidly rising costs are accelerating the use of robots in the hospitality industry.  It's an important megatrend in Hong Kong and Japan and a phenomenon that's sweeping worldwide.  A big and growing player is Hong Kong-based Rice Robots. It's cute, stocky cuboid robots serve as bellhops at Hong Kong hotels, deliver snacks to office workers in Japan and deliver coffee and drinks to customers at the Hong Kong Cyberport Innovation Hub. For customers of the Hub's Cafe, the drinks come stored in the cute, compact robot's head.  Customers use a pin sent to their cellphone to access their order.  In the age of Covid, the Rice robots are providing clean and efficient service without an extra layer of human contact, potentially spreading Covid.  That's a key reason that demand for robotic service is accelerating. New Armies of Service Robots There are g...

Taking Reservations, Giving Information Source:  Misty Robotics Your Robotic Hotel Experience Misty 11 has great aspirations to be a key part of the hospitality industry.  The cute, little rolling robot is the invention of Misty Robotics, based in Boulder, Colorado and was just unveiled at CES 2020.  Misty can detect humans, greet them, interact, provide information and responses.  She can make reservations, call for assistance and even be part of point of sales systems.  The little robot gives new meaning to the hospitality industry.  Her inventors have designed her to go to work in a hotel near you very soon. Open Source Code What's ingenious about Misty is she is not limited to one task.  This is part of an important, new emerging trend to design robots that are not limited to one use.  They have capabilities that can be used in many ways.  In the case of Misty, from room mapping to greeting customers and taking reservations....