Yobot | Robot Luggage Handler Highlights Futuristic Hotel
The robot was one of many high-tech hotel features showcased Wednesday at a preopening launch at the hotel, located on W. 42nd St. and 10th Ave. three blocks west of Times Square. Yotel New York is the newest in the Yotel line of small and cozy accommodations, which includes the book-by-the-hour airport “pod” rooms at London’s Gatwick and Heathrow Airports and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands.
Yobot, a direct descendant of the robots working in automobile-assembly plants, deftly grabs, lifts and stores baskets containing luggage, much to the delight of sidewalk onlookers at its street-level window. Guests needing to store luggage start Yobot with their room cards and then follow instructions on a video screen as the luggage hatchway opens and closes before Yobot goes to work. The large robot moves surprisingly smoothly for its size as it locates the proper drawer space for the luggage and puts it away.
Aside from Yobot, the 669-room hotel is well-connected to cyberspace and offers a number of high-tech features. Guests enjoy free Wi-Fi in their rooms and all parts of the building. Each room has a bamboo snack tray that doubles as a lap table for laptops as well as a safe which can accommodate a laptop. Guests also get a limited number of free phone calls.
