Robotic butler, Isiminger make a splash locally
Courtesy of AC Hotel in Southpointe
Ace is coming up aces as a “newly hired” butler at AC Hotel By Marriott Pittsburgh Southpointe.
Observer-Reporter
Danny Isiminger has been in the car-care business for 54 years in Washington. He stands outside his Jefferson Avenue operation in this December 2017 file photo.
Roth
The new butler at AC Hotel in Southpointe started work, appropriately, on Nov. 1 – the day after Halloween. At 3 feet tall, he navigated his first shift at the hotel appearing to be a toddler wearing a clever, chic costume he had slept in following his first foray for Milky Ways and M&Ms.
But no, he is not a tiny tyke and was not on a sugar high at the time. His name is Ace, and he is a robot, one of a smallish number thus far to serve in Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry. And he is programmed to be quite sociable.
“The hotel has the ability to put him in a mingle mode, where he can interact with guests in the lobby. He passed out candy to guests on Halloween,” said Gina Johnston, vice president of Southpointe-based Horizon Hospitality LLC, the hospitality management arm of Horizon Properties Group. Both are based in the mixed-use park in Cecil Township.
Ace is not well paid, is on call 24/7 and has a computer screen for a head. But he is a devoted employee who is well-mannered, dons a spiffy tux and can tell a good joke.
He is a product of Relay Robotics Inc., a Campbell, Calif., firm that is developing robots for hospitality and medical usage. Ace was the first hotel installation the company made in the Keystone State, marketing director Scott Sperry said in an email.
This is the fifth week Ace has been on staff at a facility known officially as AC Hotel by Marriott Pittsburgh Southpointe, overlooking Town Center. His first duty was a modest one, delivering towels and a toothbrush to a guest’s room.
Requests for items are made through the front desk, where Ace’s docking station stands. He delivers items ordered from the hotel’s AC Store and AC Lounge – food, beverages, towels, toiletries and other things – and takes them directly to the guest room. Relay’s robots need to be trained only once before maneuvering around a property, courtesy of obstacle-avoidance and self-charging technology.
With the Great Resignation still ongoing, employers can potentially fill openings through the use of robots. “Maybe because of some labor shortages, this could allow managers to focus on other tasks,” Johnston said. “If guests need more towels or shampoos, managers can use a robot instead of having an individual deliver items, taking them away from doing their job.”
AC Hotel is a fairly new operation, one that opened in September 2020 following a three-month delay during the early stages of the pandemic. It is the most recent hotel Horizon Hospitality has launched, and one of 13 properties it manages in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
Isiminger
Danny Isiminger is 78, sprightly and easy-going – but not too easy-going. Retirement is not on his radar.
“I enjoy it,” said the founder and owner of Isiminger & Son Automotive Service Center, a multi-service car-care business in Washington he has operated for 55 years. “I’m here every day. I don’t know what I’d do if I retired.”
What he no longer does, Isiminger readily admits, is heavy physical labor and put in as many 12- to -14 hour workdays as he once did. But he still devotes a lot of time to his business.
His duties include overseeing state inspections, 24-hour towing, the self-serve Splish Splash car wash and small-scale auto sales at 1100 Jefferson Avenue, a property he took over at an abandoned Exxon gas station and still owns.
And it is, indeed, like a second home – a second family home. Wife Carla and their son Neal each have worked there for 30-plus years. “I couldn’t do this without them,” Danny said.
Isiminger’s responsibilities shifted a little on Nov. 22, after he sold his 10-minute oil change and lube business to Valvoline Instant Oil Change. It is a transaction that may have been inevitable.
“Big oil is taking over guys like us,” he said. “They’re a big company and they can do things we can’t. They can get supplies easier. Valvoline has 700-some locations; we have one. And we’re paying more (for oil) on the open market.” Isiminger said prices have risen seven times in recent years, but he has increased prices only once – by $1.
State and emissions inspections are a significant part of the Isiminger operation, and the numbers reflect that. Danny said he and his staff have handled more than 500,000 of them. That and other services this independent business provides are forms of community outreach, but the Isimingers don’t stop there. For years, they have donated $500 apiece to the city police and fire departments.
The public, he said, has reciprocated. “We could not have been here through all these years without loyal customers. Customers and employees have made us what we are.”
W&J webinar
At its next webinar, the Center for Energy Policy and Management at Washington & Jefferson College will examine a popular movement that once seemed to be incompatible – using solar power to enhance agricultural development.
“And on his farm he had … a photovoltaic system? Where solar and farming meet” is the title of the free, hour-long event, scheduled for 11 a.m. Dec. 7.
Michael Roth, a W&J graduate and director of Conservation and Innovation with the state Department of Agriculture, will speak about agrivoltaics, a field also known as agrisolar or dual-use solar, on the same property.
There have been questions as to whether operating a photovoltaic system alongside farmland can prove to be beneficial. Food security, climate change and farm vitality are concerns that have been discussed. Yet these joint operations, if employed judiciously, can be fruitful. Roth will explain how this can be done in Pennsylvania.
To register, visit wjenergy.org or www.eventbrite.com/e/and-on-his-farm-he-hada-photovoltaic-system-where-solar-and-farming-meet-tickets-469142807767?aff=ebdssbdestsearch.