Hospitality Robots... NOW!

From Forbes...

"Technology Invades Hospitality Industry: Hilton Robot, Domino Delivery Droid, Ritz-Carlton Mystique...

... Remember Rosie, the robot-with-an-attitude that served the family on “The Jetsons”? Now, Hilton Hotels has launched their answer to Rosie. “She’s” named Connie and is currently being tested at the Hilton McLean Virginia, in the heart of the Washington, DC, sprawlosphere. Connie, cutely named for the brand’s founder, Conrad Hilton, is a quasi-concierge robot powered by Watson artificial intelligence from IBM.

Similarly, in a West Coast nod to Rosie, Aloft Cupertino Hotel, in the heart of Silicon Valley, recently deployed a personable little robot dubbed Botlr that can come to your floor, summoning the elevator for himself, to assist you with items you’ve forgotten and such.

Domino’s Pizza is now introducin DRU, a robot, uh, “autonomous delivery vehicle” for pizzas in Australia.  It has what’s described as a cheeky (perhaps Rosie-like) personality, powered by artificial intelligence, and will, for the time being, be confined to bike paths and bridges, rather than actual roads. And although DRU has what’s described as extensive obstacle avoidance technology, there aren’t any plans to bring DRU yet to the U.S., where Domino’s continues to learn the hard way that pedestrian and opposing-driver lives have value.

These robots that are sproutin’ up all over in hospitality and customer service, such as Connie, Botlr and DRU, are deployments of customer service technology in a way that is very visible to customers– unmissable, in fact.."

Read the full article at its source:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2016/03/18/high-tech-hospitality-hilton-robot-concierge-dominos-delivery-droid-ritz-carlton-mystique/#58ffca4d7c72 

 
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