15 October 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
YYForce Inc., Novotel Singapore on Stevens and Mercure Singapore on Stevens announced a partnership to introduce service robots across the hotels’ 772-room precinct and advance AI and humanoid robotics development. The collaboration will combine a confirmed operational rollout with research informed by hotel workflows, aiming to improve guest service and develop future hospitality capabilities.
The collaboration creates a real-world operating environment spanning 772 guestrooms, restaurants and event spaces. The hotels will contribute hospitality operating expertise and an environment in which the technology can be evaluated, while YYForce will provide robotics capabilities and technical support as it develops an integrated human, AI and robotics workforce model. The operating objective is to improve service consistency while reducing repetitive delivery, transport and cleaning work so hotel Heartists can devote more time to guest-facing service.
An initial pre-deployment comparison projects approximately 10% lower monthly operating costs across selected housekeeping, concierge and food and beverage operations, including the robot costs reflected in the model. Actual costs, productivity and guest-service outcomes will be evaluated after rollout.
“In a hotel, every journey to deliver an item and every repetitive task takes time. We want to use robotics thoughtfully, so our teams can focus their attention where it matters most to the guest,” said Piotr Kupiec, General Manager of Novotel Singapore on Stevens and Mercure Singapore on Stevens.
“Across two hotels, the opportunity is to rethink how work moves through the operation. Our measure of success will be whether we deliver more consistent service and make everyday work more manageable for our Heartists.”
The confirmed first phase will introduce specialized service robots for guest deliveries, food and beverage logistics, scheduled cleaning and concierge support. Deployment preparations include lift integration, route mapping, network requirements and guest arrival notifications. The rollout is intended to establish an operating environment in which YYForce can evaluate robotics across hotel logistics, facilities and guest-facing services.
A separate second phase is intended to focus on YYForce’s humanoid system and future iterations. Selected housekeeping and banquet workflows will inform development of robotic hardware, software and AI systems through permitted observations and agreed operational data-use arrangements.
“Working in an operating hotel environment gives us the opportunity to move robotics development from controlled demonstrations toward real-world workflows,” said Mike Fu, Chief Executive Officer of YYForce. “This collaboration connects technologies that can be deployed today with the operational learning required to develop the next generation of workforce solutions.”
“Our objective is to build the technology, operational knowledge and permitted training data needed for a future in which people, AI, specialized service robots and humanoid robots work together across hospitality, facility management and other service-intensive industries. This is a practical step toward YYForce’s 2030 Vision and our commitment to Forging Forward Together.”
Together, the partners aim to build practical knowledge of how people, AI and robotics can improve hospitality operations. The collaboration connects the hotels’ focus on guest service and more manageable work for Heartists with YYForce’s 2030 Vision for an integrated workforce ecosystem. The accompanying factsheets set out the deployment scope, AI research programme and longer-term strategy.
