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The new Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan, has made an extensive use of robots.Credit Huis Ten Bosch/Handout/European Pressphoto Agency

Giving a new meaning to “robotic service,” several hotels and at least one cruise ship have been experimenting with machines that can handle guest check-in, store bags, deliver extra towels or mix a drink at the bar.

Relay, a three-foot-tall rolling robot, can make room service deliveries and drop off small items like toothbrushes and phone chargers. The robot requests elevators via Wi-Fi, calls the room ahead of its deliveries and (when it senses the room door has opened) pops open a two-cubic-foot cargo container before departing with R2D2-like electronic happy noises.

This robot is manufactured by Savioke, a company in Silicon Valley, and made its first appearance in August 2014 at the Aloft Cupertino, where it is known as Botlr. The hotel chain added a second robot-served location in the Aloft Silicon Valley earlier this year.

This month the nearby Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley introduced its version of the system, which it calls Dash, to handle room deliveries.

The new Henn-na Hotel (whose slogan is “a commitment for evolution”), which opened last month in Nagasaki, Japan, makes much more extensive use of robots. There, visitors can find one modeled on a velociraptor at the check-in counter. The hotel also has a robotic luggage cart, a concierge robot that can provide simple information like the breakfast buffet hours, and room doors that open via facial scanning.

Aloft’s Demo of the Botlr Bellhop Robot

If you need to stow a bag after checking out at Henn-na, a robotic arm will deliver it to a secure bin. The Yotel New York offers a similar system, called the Yobot, visible behind glass but secure from potential thieves.

Watching robots in action is clearly part of the appeal. Indeed, on Royal Caribbean International’s new Quantum of the Seas, robots serve as entertainment as well as bartenders at the Bionic Bar, where two robotic arms, made by the firm Makr Shakr, mix cocktails that guests order via tablets.

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