An Australian influencer was blown away after she realised her hotel in China used robots to deliver room service orders to its guests.
Josie documented her experience at the Paco Hotel in Guangzhou in a series of TikToks that have since gone viral – with several users in stitches over the high-tech robot’s mannerisms.
Josie, who has nearly 80,000 followers, first came across the large rectangular robot while she was riding the elevator back up to her room at the hotel.
The travel vlogger decided to follow the robot down the hotel’s hallways, as it sped along on its way to deliver dinner to one of the guests.
As the robot exited the lift at its designated floor, a rather confused Josie wondered: ‘How did you know we were here?’
She also pointed out a message on the back of the robot that read ‘Working, do not disturb’ in multiple languages, alerting tourists against interacting with it during the delivery run.
Josie was so impressed by the robot, she decided to place a room service order and film her experience in a video that has over 85,000 likes at the time of writing.
She called up the front desk and said: ‘When we were checking in, we saw robots coming down the hallway and I know that they deliver food so I thought I’d check it out.’
Australian influencer Josie was blown away after she realised her hotel in China used robots to deliver room service orders to its guests
Shortly after she placed her order, Josie got a call from staff saying that her meal was on its way, so she decided to wait by her room door and film the interaction.
‘Oh my god, that’s him! That’s him!’ Josie exclaimed, as she saw the robot’s bright, blue eyes glowing in the hallway.
The phone in Josie’s room then rang with an automated message informing her that the robot had arrived with her hot food.
After opening the door, Josie greeted the robot by saying ‘Ni hao,’ which translates to ‘hello’ in Mandarin Chinese.
The robot then operated its sliding door to reveal Josie’s dinner inside, as the social media influencer noted: ‘I didn’t even have to press open.’
‘There’s a lot of food in there,’ she continued, before thanking the robot by saying ‘Xie Xie’.
After executing Josie’s delivery seamlessly, the robot closed its hatch and reversed itself down the hallway – presumably on its way to deliver another order.
Since it was posted, Josie’s video has earned nearly 500 comments about her futuristic food delivery experience.
The food delivery robots at the Paco Hotel in Guangzhou, China
Several social media users were impressed with Josie’s futuristic food delivery experience
One user wrote: ‘I’m laughing so much [at] the way it just casually reverses down the hall.’
Another person said: ‘A robot delivering my food instead of a person is the dream.’
A third said: ‘I wish we had them in the UK.’
Some people pointed out that hotels in Newcastle and Milton Keynes have robots like the one Josie interacted with.
One TikTok user shared that a Chinese restaurant in Bolton, Lancashire, ‘has robots deliver your food to your table’, adding it is ‘pretty cool’.
Still others said the thought of a robot delivering takeaway ‘terrified’ them, with one person writing: ‘This is actually quite scary.’
Meanwhile, in Japan, diners at the Dawn Avatar Robot Café are served by machines that are remotely controlled by people with medical or physical limitations.
Although it is not feasible for them to come in, the staff can still remain connected to society through their jobs at the specialised diner.
A French travel content creator, who only goes by the name ‘ksouchh’, went to the eatery and filmed his experience in an Instagram clip.
The Paris-based influencer proceeded to have a friendly chat with one of the waitresses, communicating with her via a white robot with pink lit-up lips.
The pair greeted each other by saying ‘hello’, before he asked his server: ‘Where are you now?’
She responded: ‘I’m in Saitama in Japan, do you know Saitama?’
The man told her he was not familiar with the area, but recognised the name of the city.
‘Where is it?’ he asked her, before the woman informed him Saitama is ‘not far’ from Tokyo.
‘But I have a disease so I can’t go out at all,’ she continued. ‘So I am using the robot. I come here and I can work here.’
‘That’s perfect,’ the travel vlogger said, with the woman thanking him for his kindness.
They ended their heartwarming interaction by saying ‘arigatou gozaimasu’, the polite way to say ‘thank you; in Japanese.
He then filmed the robot slowly turning around and rolling away from their table.