Sharjah24 – AFP: In Johannesburg, three robots navigate the corridors of the 453-room upmarket Hotel Sky, answering guests' queries and delivering room service orders. Put in place before the pandemic, the hotel has embraced the new technology even more than it had originally inteded, as a way to help reduce the risk of infection by Covid-19 in a country that has recorded nearly 45,000 deaths.

Nikhil Ranchod, co-founder: ctrl robotics said, "They sort of help out with the smaller things, where people need smaller things, and where staff would usually be running up to four floors delivering a meal, delivering two meals. Now we've got the facility where they can control the robots themselves and send it off. And they can also have the chatbot answering questions that would have usually taken up time for them."

Commenting on this, Herman Brits, General manager : Hotel Sky said, "And again, it just creates such a nice vibe and excitment for the staff. And then, the staff have that, in South Africa, especially, where they have the opportunity to be part of this journey, and being the innovators in South Africa of this hospitality trend.  "