Robot takes over room service and serves food at Winter Olympics 

Team Udayavani, Jan 31, 2022, 11:12 AM IST

This may come as a surprise to individuals who are accustomed to seeing regular people providing room service at hotels and guest houses.

A writer staying in a Shanghai hotel was caught aback when coffee pods were served to her room by an unusual room service employee – a robot – more than a year ago.

Anna Fifield released a video of herself opening the door to let the robot into her room.

She greeted the machine by saying, “Good morning, robot.”

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the world is a different place two years later, with strict restrictions and protocols.

As a result of the pandemic, the usage of automated equipment has increased around the world to maintain safety procedures while reducing human involvement.

This is now being put into practice in Beijing, where athletes from all around the world are preparing for the Winter Olympics.

Robots have replaced room service staff at a Beijing hotel where athletes are staying, according to a video shared online by Reuters.

After the guest types a Pincode on the screen, a robot delivers meals, as seen in the video.

The automated machine closes the cabinet and moves away from the door once the guest has taken the food package.

A Beijing hotel is using room service robots as the Winter Olympics approaches. Robots arrive at the guest's door, the guest types a pin code into the robot and the robot opens to reveal the food. Once the guest has taken the food out the robot closes and moves off pic.twitter.com/NRbDCvhQBg

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 27, 2022

“A Beijing hotel is using room service robots as the Winter Olympics approaches. Robots arrive at the guest’s door, the guest types a pin code into the robot and the robot opens to reveal the food. Once the guest has taken the food out the robot closes and moves off,” Reuters tweeted.

A second video shared on Twitter by Reuters shows an automated machine serving lunch from the ceiling.

Robots have taken over the role of chefs, assembling dishes, hamburgers, and other foods before serving them to diners from an above area of the main press centre.