Robotic room service is here

Have you ever been in your hotel room, ordered room service and found yourself stuck in your towel when they arrived? Or do you feel a little weird that there’s a stranger in your room with you while you’re in a bathrobe – even if he’s serving you breakfast? This could soon be a thing of the past.

The future is now: Silicon Valley hotels are implementing robotic room service, and it will soon be used in hotels across the country. The Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley and Aloft hotels in Silicon Valley and Cupertino feature android butlers who can travel as fast as humans, carry orders weighing less than 10 pounds, and even navigate elevators.

Now at Crowne Plaza, when travelers order light room service or amenities from the concierge, they can be greeted at their door by a sleek, silver, 3-foot-tall, 100-pound android called Dash. Dash is first loaded with the ordered items, then it calls the elevator via Wi-Fi and calls the guest on the phone to tell them it has arrived. When he’s finished, Dash returns to reception and locks himself in his charging station.

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At Aloft hotels in Silicon Valley and Cupertino, guests ordering a small delivery will encounter ALO Botlr (short for “robot butler”), who is wearing a shrink-wrapped Aloft “uniform,” complete with collar and name tag . At the door, ALO says “hello”, asks the guests to take their things, asks how they are enjoying their stay and says goodbye. Do you want to tip him? ALO even accepts tweets using the hashtag #meetbotlr as a tip.

ALO was first introduced in Cupertino last year and in Silicon Valley this year. And this month, ALO Botlr will debut at Aloft South Beach for a test. But soon, Aloft Hotels will use the robot butler in all of its properties, according to an Aloft spokesperson.

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“All of us at Savioke have seen the look of delight from guests who receive a room delivered by a robot,” Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke, the Google-backed company that created both robots. “We also found the front desk to be busy at times and we expect Botlr to be particularly helpful… freeing up human talent to interact with guests on a personal level.”

This article was originally published on Yahoo Travel.