The ADAM semi-humanoid robot serves drinks at Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Room. Source: Richtech Robotics
Richtech Robotics Inc.’s ADAM service robot participated in today’s Legacy of Launch 75th Anniversary event at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The invitation-only event by the U.S. Space Force Historical Foundation celebrated the achievements in space exploration over the past 75 years.
“We are honored to participate in such a historic event and showcase how ADAM represents the future of intelligent automation—an embodiment of innovation that complements the legacy we are celebrating,” stated Matt Casella, president of Richtech Robotics.
“This is an exciting way to introduce ourselves and further relationships,” he told The Robot Report. “We’re expanding industries from the service industry to the light industrial, warehouse, and space markets. We’ve seen a lot of interest from legacy industries, where there’s still room for more automation to support their missions.”
Founded in 2016, Richtech Robotics has developed collaborative robots for the hospitality and healthcare sectors. The Las Vegas-based company said it has deployed its systems in restaurants, retail stores, healthcare facilities, casinos, senior living homes, and factories across the U.S. Its current clients include Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, Golden Corral, Hilton, Sodexo, and Boyd Gaming.
ADAM serves thousands of drinks
ADAM has two arms and a stationary base and uses artificial intelligence running on NVIDIA technology to serve drinks. Its proprietary AI vision system “monitors each cup in real time and precisely adjusts pour angle, flow rate, and timing to ensure milliliter-level accuracy with every drink” using a “closed-loop, perception-to-action control system,” said Richtech.
The semi-humanoid robot has already served more than 16,000 drinks at Clouffee & Tea in Las Vegas. Richtech designed it to take advantage of where items are placed for humans in a bar or restaurant, Casella explained.
“But to take advantage of different spatial organization, why design a humanoid that can do only what humans can do?” he asked. “We made a couple of decisions for the hospitality space, which has a very experiential element. ADAM is recognizable as a humanoid, but it’s designed to be stationary. Based on studies, roughly 80% of tasks are done while people are sitting or standing at a counter.”
“With real-world deployments already under way in the hospitality and entertainment industries, ADAM’s ability to serve space-themed cocktails underscores the company’s commitment to pioneering technologies that enhance human experiences through state-of-the-art innovation,” stated Richtech.
Titan designed to work hard, build trust
Richtech Robotics’ heavy-duty Titan can deliver parts in factories.
“Titan is adding value in the automotive service space and manufacturing,” Casella said. “It has the advantage of ease of installation and integration with customer operations.”
“We went to an automotive service center and spent a few hours at the site mapping,” he said. “Then it was plug and press ‘play,’ seamlessly integrating into existing operations. This sector is a big opportunity.”
A robot’s physical design and human-machine interactions are significant contributors to successful adoption, noted Casella.
“Knowing that our robots will be the first that people see out in the world working — they will help robotics get over the perception hurdle for operators about their customers,” he said. “Many people haven’t yet seen robots, and we want them to want to come back. We made sure ADAM didn’t fall into the ‘uncanny valley.’ Developers need to consider how their designs will impact people emotionally.”
“It’s really important to have easy-to-use user interfaces so that people want to use the robots,” he said. “Once they experience the benefits, they can be confident in the robot’s accuracy. Whenever you try to introduce something new, if something is not done properly, that’s hard to recover from.”
“With Titan, customers can reap the benefits of automation at low cost,” he asserted. “It’s really important that robots be easy to use by the people who need to use them to do their jobs.”
Richtech accounts for safety and service
Safety is important across Richtech’s full portfolio of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), acknowledged Casella.
“Whether it’s in a restaurant or an automotive service center, people are walking around, so the robots must be aware of their surroundings,” he said. “They must be easy to manage, safely and consistently.”
“There will be continued growth of purpose-built robots, thanks to machine vision and AI functionality,” Casella noted. “ADAM’s dual arms can do an awful lot, and if things need to move around, customers can add Titan.”
With Roboworx as a third-party service provider, a technician can be on site within 24 hours, said Casella. However, most software issues can be diagnosed and fixed remotely, he said. Richtech is also adding offices around the U.S. to support its robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model.
Richtech extends robotics reach beyond ADAM
Richtech Robotics also offers the Matradee Plus delivery robot, the Scorpion one-armed drink server, the Medbot for secure deliveries of medicine, and the DUST-E S and MX cleaning robots. While customer-service robots have not seen the adoption of, say, surgical systems, their maturing capabilities should improve perceptions, said Casella.
“We’ve deployed over 400 robots nationwide, but mostly in smaller customer orders,” he said. “We’re building on fleets right now, and I’m excited about some pilots in progress with enterprise-level deployments of dozens to hundreds of robots. We look forward to working with more partners.”
“We’re on the doorstep of integrating the power of AI with these robots to perform to a higher degree of consistency,” asserted Casella. “This will allow for the introduction of robotics into more spaces. Everybody’s looking for a big partner like McDonald’s, but they need to prove them first with smaller players.”
Last month, the company announced its inclusion in the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 small-cap indices.
Also in July, Richtech signed a $4 million agreement with Boyu Artificial Intelligence Technology Co. to expand the purchasing, service, and software licensing of ADAM, Scorpion, and Titan in China. The partners plan to establish a research and development center in Beijing.
“We want to build out an ecosystem of partners that push on all of these technologies — hardware, software, AI, and language models,” said Casella. “Our founders have relationships with a variety of companies in China, where we have a small engineering office, collaborating with our Las Vegas-based team. Deployments of service robots are further along in Asia.”
“We’re always thinking of how to integrate robotics and automation into businesses,” he concluded. “It’s an exciting time for the hospitality space, and we’re always considering how to iterate and grow.”
ADAM uses proprietary AI vision for precise drink service. Source: Richtech Robotics
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