ABB Cobots and the New Hotel Robots

From 1950s bellhops to Henn na Hotel's retired robots and today's hotel cobots, and how ABB's YuMi, GoFa and Flexley Mover fit behind the scenes.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/26/20261 min read

In the 1950s, a bellhop at Lake McDonald Lodge in Montana carried every guest's suitcases in from the road. Hotels ran on people: porters, room attendants making up a dozen or more rooms a shift, kitchen crews and night clerks. The work was heavy and repetitive, and in most hotels it still is.

Bellhop in a yellow shirt carrying suitcases in front of a wooden lodge
Bellhop in a yellow shirt carrying suitcases in front of a wooden lodge

A bellhop with guests' luggage at Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park, 1950s. Photo: John Lee / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Japan's Henn na Hotel opened in 2015 with robot staff, including dinosaur receptionists. By 2019 it had retired about half of its 243 robots because they made extra work for the people around them.

Two animatronic dinosaur receptionists behind a hotel check-in desk
Two animatronic dinosaur receptionists behind a hotel check-in desk

Robot dinosaur receptionists at Henn na Hotel Osaka-Shinsaibashi, 2019. Photo: Matsuoka Akiyoshi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A Travel Daily Media report on 22 September says hotels are now turning to cobots that work next to staff. Tailos' Rosie vacuums public areas up to 80% faster than by hand, and tens of thousands of Bear Robotics and Keenon units run dishes to tables. A Washington State University study adds a warning: robots brought in without talking to staff raise job anxiety and turnover.

White service robot with trays of food on its shelves in a restaurant
White service robot with trays of food on its shelves in a restaurant

A food delivery robot carrying dishes in a Beijing restaurant, 2020. Photo: N509FZ / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

ABB does not make hotel robots, but it has spent more than a decade on robots that share space with people. Its dual-arm YuMi was designed for exactly that, and one made coffee for shoppers at the Smartech bar in Selfridges, London.

ABB YuMi dual-arm robot at a coffee machine in a store
ABB YuMi dual-arm robot at a coffee machine in a store

ABB's YuMi making coffee at the Smartech bar in Selfridges, London. Photo: ABB

The GoFa CRB 15000 cobot has torque sensors in all six joints, stops when it touches someone and can be taught by moving the arm by hand. That suits back-of-house hotel jobs such as sorting linen or packing room-service trays. ABB's Flexley Mover robots already haul carts around factories, and a laundry cart is not so different.

Woman guiding the arm of a white ABB GoFa cobot by hand at a table
Woman guiding the arm of a white ABB GoFa cobot by hand at a table

An ABB GoFa CRB 15000 cobot guided by hand. Photo: ABB

My guess is that hotels will keep check-in and guest care for people and hand machines the lifting and the 3 a.m. deliveries. The WSU finding still applies. If staff help choose and teach the robots from the start, they are far more likely to see them as help with the worst chores than as a threat to their jobs.

Small ABB mobile robot carrying stacked dark crates in a blue-lit hall
Small ABB mobile robot carrying stacked dark crates in a blue-lit hall

An ABB Flexley Mover P603 carrying a load of crates. Photo: ABB

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