The new butler at the AC Hotel at Southpoint started working properly on November 1st – the day after Halloween. He’s 3-foot-1, he passed his first shift at the hotel and looks like a smart-and-chic little kid who slept after his first foray into Milky Ways and M&Ms.
But no, he wasn’t young and he wasn’t hyperglycemic at the time. its name shred He is a robot, one of the few so far to serve in Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry. It is programmed to be completely social.
“The hotel has the ability to get him into promiscuity, as he can interact with guests in the lobby. He gave out candy to guests on Halloween.” Jenna Johnston, vice president of Southpoint-based Horizon Hospitality LLC, the hospitality management arm of Horizon Properties Group. Both are located in a mixed use park in the town of Cecil.
Ace doesn’t get paid well, is on call 24/7 and has a computer monitor for the head. But he is a loyal and polite employee, who wears an elegant suit and can tell a good joke.
It is a product of Relay Robotics Inc. Inc., a Campbell, California company that develops robots for hospitality and medical use. Ace was the first hotel the company did in Keystone State, Director of Marketing Scott Sperry he said in an email.
This is the fifth week that Ace has been working at the facility, officially known as the AC Hotel by Marriott Pittsburgh Southpoint, overlooking downtown. His first task was a modest one, delivering towels and toothbrushes to the guest room.
Item requests are made through the front desk, which is where Ace’s docking station is located. He delivers items ordered from the hotel’s HVAC store and HVAC lounge – food, drinks, towels, toiletries, and other items – and takes them directly to the guest room. Relay robots only need to be trained once before maneuvering around property, thanks to obstacle avoidance technology and self-charging.
As major resignations continue, employers can fill the slots through the use of bots. “Perhaps because of some labor shortages, this may allow managers to focus on other tasks,” Johnston said. “If guests need more towels or shampoo, managers can use the robot instead of handing over individual items, which puts them off doing their job.”
The AC Hotel is a fairly new operation, which opened in September 2020 after a three-month delay during the early stages of the pandemic. It’s the latest hotel launched by Horizon Hospitality, and one of 13 properties it operates in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
isiminger
Danny Eisinger At 78, he’s graceful and easy – but not too easy. Retirement is not on the radar.
“I’m enjoying it,” said the founder and owner of Isiminger & Son Automotive Service Center, a multi-service auto care company in Washington that he’s been running for 55 years. “I’m here every day. I don’t know what I’ll do if I retire.”
What he no longer did, Isiminger readily admits, was hard physical labor and did the 12- to 14-hour workdays as he did before. But he still devotes a lot of time to his business.
His duties include overseeing government inspections, 24-hour towing, the Splish Splash self-service car wash, and small-scale auto sales at 1100 Jefferson Avenue, a property he acquired in an abandoned Exxon gas station that he still owns.
And it really is like a second home – a second family home. wife Carla and their son Nile Each of them has worked there for over 30 years. “I couldn’t do it without them,” Danny said.
Isiminger’s responsibilities changed slightly on November 22, after he sold his 10-minute oil change and lube business to Valvoline Instant Oil Change. It’s a deal that may be inevitable.
“Big oil takes over men like us,” he said. “It’s a big company and they can do things we can’t do. They can get supplies easier. Valvoline has 700-some locations; we have one. And we pay more (for oil) on the open market.” Prices have gone up seven times in recent years, Isiminger said, but he only raised prices once — by $1.
Condition and emissions inspections are an important part of the Isiminger process, and the numbers reflect that. Danny said he and his staff have dealt with more than 500,000 of them. These and other services offered by this independent company are forms of community outreach, but Isimingers don’t stop there. For years, they donated $500 each to city police and fire departments.
He said the public responded in kind. “We could not have been here all these years without loyal customers. The customers and the employees make us who we are.”
W&J webinar
In its upcoming educational webinar, the Center for Energy Policy and Management at Washington & Jefferson College will examine a grassroots movement that once seemed incongruous–the use of solar energy to promote agricultural development.
“And on his farm he had… a photovoltaic system? Where Solar and Agriculture Meet” is the title of the free hour-long event scheduled for 11am on December 7.
Michael Rotha W&J graduate and director of conservation and innovation for the state Department of Agriculture, will talk about photovoltaic farming, a field also known as agrisolar, or dual-use solar power, on the same property.
There have been questions about whether running a PV system alongside farmland can be beneficial. Food security, climate change and farm vitality are discussed. However, these joint processes, if employed judiciously, can be fruitful. Roth will explain how this can be done in Pennsylvania.
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