World's first robotic butler

The list of jobs threatened by the inevitable robot uprising just got a little longer. Bellboys and hotel concierges the world over have a new, adorable nemesis: Botlr.

A waist-high roving droid, the A.L.O Botlr is set to go into full time work at the Aloft Hotel of Cupertino, Silicon Valley, from 20 August. Its mission, not to freak out customers and replace hotel staff, but rather deliver amenities such as fresh towels, drinks and any items guests might request that can fit into its onboard container - thus freeing up hotel staff to carry out tasks that require human interaction and opposable thumbs.

Using an inbuilt touch panel, hotel staff can program the Botlr to deliver goods to any of the Cupertino's hotel rooms. Botlr can then autonomously navigate the hotel corridors, calling on floor plans stored in its memory and using its sensors to avoid any mishaps with guests. It can even summon the lift, calling the room once it arrives rather than smashing through the door.

As well as 'helping' the Aloft Hotel staff, the Botlr is looking to drive prospective tech-savy guests to the hotel with a novel PR ploy: rather than giving the little droid a cash 'thank you', guests are requested to Tweet tips to #MeetBotlr.

Cutesy R2-D2 come true or another step toward Skynet? Let us know what you think about Botlr in the comments below.

(Images: YouTube)

[Via: Luxuo]