Schmersal Böhnke + Partner Showcase Jeeves Robot API for Lifts

With social-distancing requirements of the pandemic in mind, Schmersal Böhnke + Partner showcased a software application programming interface (API) it developed with Robotise AG, manufacturer of the JEEVES® service robot, at interlift in Augsburg, Germany, through April 29. The API communicates directly with the JEEVES Android cloud, allowing the robots to use lifts in hotels and other facilities fully independently. The robots are able to directly select and request a lift within a lift group that is optimal for its particular use. The lift control then puts the car in priority mode for the JEEVES robot on the starting floor. Thanks to permanent communication with the lift control, the service robot is always aware of which lift car is available with its doors open. Once the robot has entered the car, the lift control knows which floor has been selected, and moves the robot directly there with no stops. Situations such as lifts being temporarily unavailable — as well as instructions on how to operate in case of a fire — are communicated to the robot in real time. “Our development teams have created a very flexible piece of software that allows lift controls from Böhnke + Partner dating back to the early 2000s to be retrofitted with this software API,” Dr. Andreas Hunscher, head of Lift Business at Schmersal, said, adding that there are more than 30,000 lift controls currently in operation that can be equipped with this option.