The new butler at AC Hotel in Southpointe started work, appropriately, on Nov. 1 – the day after Halloween. At 3 feet tall, he navigated his first shift at the hotel appearing to be a toddler wearing a clever, chic costume he had slept in following his first foray for Milky Ways and M&Ms.

But no, he is not a tiny tyke and was not on a sugar high at the time. His name is Ace, and he is a robot, one of a smallish number thus far to serve in Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry. And he is programmed to be quite sociable.

“The hotel has the ability to put him in a mingle mode, where he can interact with guests in the lobby. He passed out candy to guests on Halloween,” said Gina Johnston, vice president of Southpointe-based Horizon Hospitality LLC, the hospitality management arm of Horizon Properties Group. Both are based in the mixed-use park in Cecil Township.

Ace is not well paid, is on call 24/7 and has a computer screen for a head. But he is a devoted employee who is well-mannered, dons a spiffy tux and can tell a good joke.

He is a product of Relay Robotics Inc., a Campbell, Calif., firm that is developing robots for hospitality and medical usage. Ace was the first hotel installation the company made in the Keystone State, marketing director Scott Sperry said in an email.

This is the fifth week Ace has been on staff at a facility known officially as AC Hotel by Marriott Pittsburgh Southpointe, overlooking Town Center. His first duty was a modest one, delivering towels and a toothbrush to a guest’s room.

Requests for items are made through the front desk, where Ace’s docking station stands. He delivers items ordered from the hotel’s AC Store and AC Lounge – food, beverages, towels, toiletries and other things – and takes them directly to the guest room. Relay’s robots need to be trained only once before maneuvering around a property, courtesy of obstacle-avoidance and self-charging technology.

With the Great Resignation still ongoing, employers can potentially fill openings through the use of service robots. “Maybe because of some labor shortages, this could allow managers to focus on other tasks,” Johnston said. “If guests need more towels or shampoos, managers can use a robot instead of having an individual deliver items, taking them away from doing their job.”

AC Hotel is a fairly new operation, one that opened in September 2020 following a three-month delay during the early stages of the pandemic. It is the most recent hotel Horizon Hospitality has launched, and one of 13 properties it manages in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

This story was published in the Observer-Reporter. To read more, visit Robotic butler makes a splash locally.