Nippon Otis Pilot Project Integrates Service Robot With Elevator for Mail Delivery

Nippon Otis Elevator Co., in collaboration with robotics provider FIG Corp., has integrated a service robot with an existing Otis Gen2^® Prestige elevator as part of a pilot project at the Oita Prefectural Government Office, in Oita, Japan. To improve delivery efficiency and free employees for more value-adding tasks, the Oita Prefectural Government Office has launched the pilot of mail delivery by robot. Nippon Otis worked with FIG to integrate the elevator and robot using Otis Integrated Dispatch™ technology, which enables the robot to interact with the elevator via the cloud. This allows the robot to autonomously call and take the elevator to designated floors to perform mail delivery. The whole workflow is automated without the need for human intervention. As a security measure, the robot is equipped with a facial identification system that allows only authorized people to receive the mail packages delivered. Otis Integrated Dispatch works at the elevator group or bank level. This allows for the easy addition of extra robots, including different robot models from various providers, and increases pace and efficiency by having multiple elevators available for robots to use.