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A robot concierge that hands out gifts and checks in guests has been put to work at a top hotel on Saadiyat Island to test how technology could take on day-to-day tasks.
The Type 1 Autodroid developed by Autogo, a division of the UAE-based tech company Kintsugi, has completed a successful month-long trial at the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort. It is an early indicator of how humanoid machines could support people in their daily work, or completely take over some menial tasks.

Far removed from the type of service robots depicted in Hollywood films, the machine can respond to basic commands and offer information using built-in artificial intelligence. While its performance may have been far from spectacular, the trial was considered a success, with developers claiming humanoid machines will soon become part of everyday life.
“It is very important that any robot interactions were unscripted, allowing it to learn continuously,” said Jason Lee, director of innovation at Autogo.
“On its ability, we can see it has hands for different functionality, for picking up small items, to slowly improving to picking up bigger items and perhaps venturing into the manufacturing or healthcare industry.”
Autonomous solutions
Autogo aims to create intelligent, autonomous solutions – such as robotaxis and delivery systems – that enhance productivity and transform how we live, work and move. Autodroid stands 1.73 metres tall, weighs 85kg and operates on a 360-degree rotation with built-in Lidar (light detection and ranging) to navigate obstacles.
It takes two hours to fully charge the robot, which can then run for six hours. Its developers said giving the machine legs could be the next step, although human acceptance of a fully mobile robot with the ability to think on its feet may take some getting used to.

“It is very important to understand what we are trying to do, which is not to have AI robotics take over but look into having human machine collaboration,” said Mr Lee. “We will see big changes in the next six months to a year.

“Mass production of these robots is one of the challenges we are looking at and trying to see how we can bring down the costs. This will allow them to be used domestically in homes and public places.”
Companies such as Boston Dynamics and Tesla have their own robots in production, which use similar technology.