The hotel food delivery robot insisted on standing in the middle of the elevator. I felt like I was being bullied.

Have you ever encountered a food delivery robot when staying in a hotel?

A plastic block with the same measurements for the chest, waist, and hips glides steadily along the corridor at a constant speed. Then it squeezes into the elevator with the guests. Finally, it reaches the door of the target guest room, opens its "belly" and says, "Your meal has arrived!"

It's very convenient for the guests who ordered the food. However, it's a different story for those sharing the elevator with the robot: Why does this big block have to stand right in the middle of the elevator car?

Highly principled | Sister Black Feet

🤖 When the elevator is crowded, it insists on standing in the middle;

🤖 When passengers are dragging suitcases or baby strollers, it still wants to stand in the middle;

🤖 To stand in the middle, it doesn't hesitate to step on the passengers' feet;

🤖 While doing all this, it will say in a cute voice, "Excuse me, please leave the middle position for me."

Complaints from humans | Xiaohongshu/Sumu, Yeyeyeyeyebu Night, Shui Qingqian, Eat and drink well!

Robot, are you doing this on purpose?

It probably starts with how it takes the elevator

This "mischievous" food delivery robot has a unique way of taking the elevator, with the core being the Internet of Things communication technology. At the same time, when the hotel introduces this new "employee", it also needs to retrofit the elevator and install a supporting intelligent dispatching elevator control system.

When the robot needs to take the elevator, the process is as follows:

Step 1 | The robot calls the main control unit

When the robot starts working, it contacts the elevator control main unit via WiFi or 4G/5G signals, reporting its current floor and the target floor;

Step 2 | The main control unit calls the elevator

The elevator control main unit issues an instruction to the elevator, asking it to pick up the robot;

Step 3 | The elevator door opens

When the robot carrying the food approaches the elevator door, the elevator control system commands the arrived elevator to open its door;

Step 4 | The elevator door closes

After the elevator control system confirms that the robot has entered the car and is standing steadily, it commands the elevator to close its door;

Step 5 | The elevator runs

The elevator control system, which has already received the instruction of the target floor, automatically lights up the button of the target floor - at this time, the robot often proudly says, "Let me show you how to press the elevator button remotely."

Step 6 | The robot exits the elevator

Upon reaching the target floor, the elevator control system notifies the robot, "You can get out now."

Thus, the process of the robot taking the elevator is completed.

Robot: Phew~ | Sister Black Feet

So why does it have to stand in the middle?

It seems that the process of the robot taking the elevator is very simple and reasonable. Then what's the deal with the "obsession with the center position" mentioned at the beginning?

A patent for a hotel food delivery robot mentions relevant content [2]. It says that the entry point of the robot into the elevator is set as "right in front of the elevator door, at the center point of the line segment parallel to the direction of the door" - which is almost the exact center of the elevator car.

You see, it's not that the robot is being stubborn. It's just programmed to stand here.

Even when there's no one around, the robot adheres to the rule | Sister Black Feet

This design is mainly for safety reasons, to ensure that during the process of entering and exiting the elevator, the robot maintains the maximum possible distance from the left and right endpoints of the elevator door and the four walls of the elevator car, so as to avoid hitting the door or the wall.

There may also be considerations for optimizing the route. After all, standing in a corner involves a longer distance and more turns, which slows down the robot's work efficiency.

In addition to standing in the middle of the elevator, the robot also moves right in the middle of the corridor, probably for similar reasons.

The biggest victim of the robot's domineering behavior appears | Xiaohongshu/What kind of nonsense is this

However, the rule of having to stand in the middle inevitably brings some problems:

🤷🏻‍♀️ When it sees that the elevator car is too crowded to stand in the middle, some robots will decisively choose to wait for the next elevator, leaving the guests who ordered the food hungry;

🤷🏻‍♀️ Some robots don't care how many people are in the elevator. Even if they have to step on the guests' feet, push aside a couple holding hands, or press the guests against the wall, they still want to stand gracefully in the middle;

🤷🏻‍♀️ If the elevator space is small, this big block really takes up a lot of room standing in the middle;

Crowded | Xiaohongshu/Mr. Pisces in the Cloud

🤷🏻‍♀️ If two robots meet in the elevator or the corridor, they may have a tug - of - war over who gets to stand in the middle;

Robots forgetting their work while fighting for the right - of - way | Xiaohongshu/Oooo~~

🤷🏻‍♀️ Because of its insistence on standing in the middle, some robots have been beaten up by drunk guests (Drinking is bad! Damaging other people's property is bad!).

Image | Xiaohongshu/Banana peel on the track has nothing to do with me

Therefore, new robot designs are exploring more flexible ways to enter the elevator: allowing the robot to detect the positions of passengers and other obstacles in the elevator in real - time, and considering factors such as the distance to obstacles and the elevator door, to choose a more suitable and safe position to stand.

In the future, when we stay in hotels, we may see robots obediently huddled in the corner.

What other complaints are there about food delivery robots?

People's complaints about food delivery robots on social platforms are not limited to the "obsession with the center position".

Due to reasons such as unstable center of gravity, uneven terrain, and wrinkled carpets, the robot is quite prone to getting stuck or falling. It's okay if it just delays the food delivery or gets stuck at the elevator door. What's more terrifying is that after falling at night, the whole hotel corridor is filled with the cries of "Help me!";

Image | Xiaohongshu/A pony without tricks

It's not good at chatting but loves to chat. It often wants to sing songs or tell jokes to passengers, regardless of whether the passengers are sad or introverted;

Image | Xiaohongshu/Just call it random

Guests who open the door without clothes on may encounter a robot equipped with a camera;

Image | Xiaohongshu

If you order several takeaways, the robot may sarcastically say, "It's you again. You can really eat."

Image | Xiaohongshu/Miao Ao

Although there are many valid complaints, there are also many people who like it.

Some people specifically choose hotels with robots so that they don't have to go downstairs to get takeaways or open the door neatly to face the delivery riders;

Some office workers on business trips are deeply touched by the robot's words, "Mom said you should take good care of yourself when you're away from home.";

There are also "foreigners who haven't seen much of the world" who can make a video of encountering a robot in a Chinese hotel go viral on the Internet;

For hotel staff and delivery riders, the robot taking over the last few hundred meters saves a lot of work.

Behind all this is the process of the integration of technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and robotics with daily life. And the robot's clumsy but firm "obsession with the center position" is probably a cute compromise in the early stage of human - robot cooperation.

But if you really can't stand it, you can just push the robot out of the elevator. Anyway, it seems that there are no serious consequences according to netizens.

Although it can be considered workplace bullying, this colleague won't get hurt or complain | Xiaohongshu/The 200 - jin girl left behind by the God of Wealth

References

[1] "Elevator - riding control method, device,"