Before the robot,
walk the site.

A useful pilot starts with a specific task, a real environment, and a written definition of success. Use these nine review areas to prepare a brief for your provider.

BY DROID · REVIEWED OCTOBER 23, 2026

From a promising demo to a measurable pilot.

For a hotel, restaurant, warehouse, or research environment, review the complete workflow with the people who will operate and support it. Record unknowns as questions for the vendor. Confirm requirements against the proposed model and configuration.

Download the editable site brief (.md)Compare purchase and subscription costs

This is a planning worksheet, not an engineering approval, safety certification, fixed deployment timeline, or performance promise.

Nine areas to review.

0 of 9 areas reviewed

01 · Define one task and its baseline
Choose a specific route or manipulation task. Observe the existing workflow before estimating what automation changes. Include loading, handoff, and exception handling.
Record: Task, objects, shift, current completion time, staff interventions, and success definition.
02 · Walk and measure the actual route
Record the narrowest usable passage, corners, surface transitions, ramps, thresholds, traffic, and temporary obstructions. Compare measurements with the exact model’s documented requirements; there is no universal aisle-width rule.
Record: Annotated floor plan, measurements, photographs, peak-traffic observations, and restricted areas.
03 · Confirm doors and elevators
For multi-floor or access-controlled routes, involve the building operator and equipment provider. Establish supported interfaces, permissions, failure behavior, and who owns any integration work.
Record: Door and elevator models, integration approval, access schedule, responsibility, and fallback route.
04 · Test connectivity where the robot will work
Ask the vendor which functions need Wi-Fi, cellular, cloud services, or local control. Test required coverage along the route and agree on secure network access with IT. Do not assume every model needs the same network configuration.
Record: Connectivity requirements, coverage gaps, approved access, offline behavior, and recovery procedure.
05 · Plan charging and staging
Choose a permitted docking location with the required power and clearances. Work through charging, loading, queueing, cleaning, and shift handover so the home base does not obstruct people or operations.
Record: Dock location, power requirements, charging schedule, staging space, and responsible staff.
06 · Define the human handoffs
Decide who loads and unloads, how a destination is chosen, how an arrival is signaled, and what happens when the recipient is unavailable. Test the complete job, not only autonomous travel.
Record: Loading rules, payload limits, notifications, arrival procedure, training, and exceptions.
07 · Review safety and intervention
Have the responsible site and robotics specialists assess the intended use. Establish restricted areas, stop and recovery procedures, escalation, and staff training before a pilot. Do not disable protective functions to improve a demo result.
Record: Responsible reviewers, documented risk review, stop procedure, training, and escalation contacts.
08 · Set data, maintenance, and support responsibilities
Map what information is collected and who can access it. Review software updates, retention, repair responsibilities, service response, spare parts, and equipment recovery in the written offer.
Record: Data flow, retention and access, update process, support hours, exclusions, and repair ownership.
09 · Agree on the pilot’s acceptance criteria
Specify representative operating conditions and measure completed jobs, interventions, elapsed time, availability, and staff effort. Set thresholds and stop criteria with the provider before starting. Include installation, integration, software, service, and exit costs.
Record: Pilot window, sample size, agreed thresholds, cost assumptions, decision owner, and pass/stop criteria.

Checkmarks stay in this page session only. Nothing is sent to Droid. A checked box records your review; it does not certify that a site or robot is safe or suitable.

For hotels:
test the whole delivery.

Use a representative journey from loading point to guest handoff and back. Check elevator access, guest and staff traffic, arrival notifications, blocked routes, and the person responsible when a delivery cannot finish.

Vendor pages can establish advertised functionality; they do not establish that your property, elevator, or network is ready.

Separate the measurements.

Completed tasks and unsuccessful attempts.
Unassisted completions and staff-assisted completions.
Travel time and total time including loading and waiting.
Robot availability and charging or maintenance time.
Observed staff time and hypothetical financial savings.

Sources and scope.

This worksheet is Droid’s planning framework. It proposes questions to resolve with a provider rather than universal hardware thresholds.

Bear Robotics: Servi product overview — manufacturer-described delivery and bussing, with clearance varying by tray configuration.
Relay Robotics: hotel delivery overview — manufacturer-described hotel delivery workflows.
Droid R2D3 documentation — development, simulation, and hardware bring-up are distinct stages.

External descriptions belong to their publishers. These links do not imply a partnership, comparative test, or endorsement of Droid.

Choose the next step.

START WITH THE WORKFLOW

Bring us the task.
Let’s find the fit.

Share your environment, the job to be done, and the outcome you need to measure.

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