Austria: Alpentherme Ehrenberg Uses Service Robot

The Alpentherme Ehrenberg in Reutte (Tyrol), Austria, already employs 62 people. Nevertheless, also this company is constantly looking for new staff. There was a shortage of staff, especially in the catering area, and the company wanted to relieve the pressure on its service staff, according to the spa management. This led to the purchase of the service robot aka “Butler James”, which has recently been serving the guests in the sauna restaurant and thus relieving the employees. Especially in the particularly warm sauna area, the long walks of the waiters (on average 20,000 steps per shift) are a great strain. The James robot can now relieve them of some of the walking. Theoretically, the robot could be used around the clock, but it is only used to deliver dishes to the appropriate table. The human waiters will continue to take orders and provide beverage service.

“The relief provided by our butler James also ensures a greater sense of well-being among the employees and a better quality of the workplace – both of which result in a higher quality of service for our guests,” reports the catering and deputy operations manager of the Alpentherme, Marcel Sacha. The new employee also has a nice design. Thus, the robot carries a noble tailcoat and has a cute cat face with large googly eyes. If you stroke his ears, James utters a cute “meow” followed by a “How nice!”. The service robot from the Chinese Pudu brand was purchased from an Austrian restaurant retailer and, according to the list price, comes to around 18,000 euros net per item. (eap)