Pudu Robotics: KettyBot Pro will provide personalized customer service

A Chinese robotics firm believes its latest autonomous server can lend overstretched businesses an extra pair of hands. PuduTech recently unveiled KettyBot Pro, an enhanced delivery robot tailored for easing labor strains in retail and hospitality settings.

Building on the popularity of Pudu's earlier foodrunner bots deployed since 2021, the refreshed model aims to further optimize navigation and responsiveness when assisting human personnel. Upgrades target helping KettyBot seamlessly integrate amid hectic customer-facing environments.

The key lies in improved perception and awareness while in motion, according to Pudu CEO Felix Zhang. A new high-res RGBD camera expands KettyBot Pro's field of view to better map congested spaces like busy restaurants in 3D. This enables darting around patrons and obstacles more nimbly than before with just 21 inches of clearance.

Onboard vision can also now automatically detect when a customer retrieves their delivered meal from KettyBot's tray. By recognizing the handoff's completion, the bot can briskly move on to the next task without awaiting app commands. Zhang suggests such autonomy makes the experience more natural on both ends.

KettyBot Pro additionally totes an 18-inch display for serving up customized advertisements as it makes rounds. Retailers and eateries can program targeted promotional content or use the robot as a roving in-store kiosk. Its frame also comes in a premium black skin alongside the original white and yellow.

These upgrades aim to maximize KettyBot's guest engagement and revenue potential on top of taking load off short-staffed teams. Early partners spanning Walmart, Pizza Hut and China's KFC have tapped the bots to supplement thin workforces. Now enhanced versatility and personalization options look to widen commercial appeal.

Pudu envisions advanced roles like greeting shoppers and restaurant patrons could further humanize customer experience. It believes integrating nimble, voice-enabled droids can ease rather than replace service staff. Learning to leverage bots in hybrid teams promises greater sustainability than just overworking remaining workers.

Global demand for such collaborative automation is surging amid labor market volatility. Pudu has shipped 70,000 robots worldwide over the past six years, supplying relief to strained sectors. Now KettyBot Pro offers its most accessible commercial droid yet for businesses balancing spikes in activity with declines in job applicants.

While macroeconomic uncertainty has complicated growth, Pudu is bullish enough on hospitality and retail robot adoption to triple production capacity. As more customers encounter personable droids supporting human colleagues, the startup predicts less resistance toward embracing them as standard staff.