Can robots use lifts? Multi-floor robot deployment in New Zealand hotels, hospitals and aged care

A robot that cannot use the lift is limited to one floor. For hotels delivering to rooms, hospitals moving specimens and linen, and aged residential care homes running meal and laundry trips, lift access often decides whether a robot is worth deploying at all. Robot-to-lift integration is now a pattern the major lift manufacturers support, and it already runs in New Zealand buildings. It still needs careful scoping, because in New Zealand a lift is part of the building’s regulated life safety and access systems.

How does a robot ride a lift?

There are two common approaches. The first is a robot-side interface module. Several robot makers supply a small internet-of-things module that connects to the lift’s call circuits and reports which floor the car is on. The robot talks to the module over Wi-Fi, a mobile network or both. In effect, the module presses the buttons on the robot’s behalf.

The second is an interface from the lift manufacturer. Otis describes Otis Integrated Dispatch as a cloud-based interface for connecting service robots to lifts, installed by its own technicians with a small amount of hardware in the building, coordinated with local safety inspectors. KONE offers a service robot interface for cleaning, delivery and security robots.

Either way, a trip follows the same sequence:

1. The robot arrives in the lift lobby and requests a car.
2. The lift arrives and holds its doors while the robot checks there is room and enters.
3. The robot registers its destination floor.
4. At the destination the doors are held again while the robot exits, and the lift is released.

In typical systems, the integration makes the same requests a passenger would and adds a door hold, without changing how the lift decides to move or touching its safety circuits. Make that clear when you talk to your building owner and IQP.

Is it already happening in New Zealand?

Yes, and two lift makers have published examples from New Zealand hotels. In April 2025 Otis announced what it called the first Otis Integrated Dispatch installation in New Zealand, at the Sudima Auckland City hotel, where a delivery robot calls a lift Otis installed in 2021, selects its floor, and enters and exits the car on its own to deliver food and beverages to rooms. Otis said the interface works with most of its commercial lifts made since the 1990s.

KONE describes a similar arrangement with Sudima Hotels, quoting the manager of its Auckland Airport hotel. Lifts upgraded in 2023 gained built-in connectivity, and a room service robot now calls, rides and exits them through KONE’s cloud-connected interface.

These are the lift makers’ own projects. They show the approach works in New Zealand buildings, but each building still needs its own assessment.

What does the Building Act mean for lift integration?

Under the Building Act 2004, a building includes its mechanical and electrical systems. Lifts are listed as specified systems, as are electromagnetic or automatic doors, such as those that close on a fire alarm. Any building other than a single household unit that has a specified system needs a compliance schedule, which describes each system, its performance standards, and the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures that keep it working.

Each year the owner supplies the council with a building warrant of fitness, backed by certificates from independently qualified persons (IQPs) confirming those procedures were followed for the previous 12 months. The owner can apply to amend the compliance schedule at any time, and must apply if they consider an amendment is needed to keep a specified system performing to its standards.

In practice, that gives you three questions to settle before a robot is connected:

• Does the interface change anything the compliance schedule describes, or how the lift performs?
• Does the IQP need to inspect or certify anything differently afterwards?
• Is any of the work building work that needs a building consent, or a compliance schedule amendment?

Your lift contractor and IQP can advise, and the council decides. The BWOF cycle runs every year, so the people who can answer these questions are already involved with the building. If the robot will also open automatic doors, ask the same questions about them.

Who has duties under HSWA?

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, plant includes machinery and equipment and anything fitted or connected to it. Treat the lift interface as part of the lift and record it in your risk assessment. A business that manages or controls plant at a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that it is without risks to anyone’s health and safety.

Several businesses usually share these duties: the building owner, the hotel, hospital or care operator, the lift contractor and the robot supplier. Where duties overlap, HSWA requires them to work together on those duties, so far as is reasonably practicable. Otis notes that its work with robot makers includes reviewing their call sequences and retry logic, and working with property owners so that everyone’s goals are aligned.

Engage the staff who will share lifts and lobbies with the robot. Porters, orderlies, carers and housekeeping teams know where the bottlenecks are.

What happens in a fire or emergency?

Lifts move into special operating modes during a fire alarm, for firefighter use, for medical priority or for maintenance. A robot should never compete with those modes. The better integrations report car mode back to the robot. Otis says robots connected through its interface can be told when a lift is in fire service or medical takeover and react accordingly, and it encourages robot makers to build in emergency sequences.

Separately, configure the robot’s own fire alarm behaviour so it stops or parks clear of exits, fire doors and escape routes. Plan for everyday failures too: a lift out of service for maintenance, a power interruption or a lost network connection. Agree what the robot does in each case and who gets notified.

Site checklist before you commit

Check	Why it matters	Who confirms
Lift make, controller age and available interfaces	Decides whether a manufacturer connection or robot-side module is feasible	Lift contractor
Compliance schedule and BWOF	The interface must not affect how a specified system performs, and the schedule may need amending	Building owner, IQP, council
Door open and dwell times	Doors must stay open long enough for the robot to enter and exit on the first attempt	Lift contractor
Levelling accuracy at each floor	A step or gap at the sill can stop a wheeled robot	Lift contractor, site walk
Car size and rated load	Room for the robot plus passengers, beds or trolleys	Lift contractor, robot supplier
Lobby space	The robot needs room to wait, turn and let people pass	Site assessment
Wi-Fi or mobile coverage in lobbies and inside cars	Lift cars and shafts often block signal, and the robot must stay connected	Network survey
Access-controlled floors	Swipe-card floors need a defined authorisation method	Security or IT
Cameras in lobbies and cars	Robot sensors may capture guests, patients or residents, so handling must meet the Privacy Act 2020	Privacy officer
Peak lift traffic	Checkout, meal times and visiting hours affect wait times	Operations data
Service versus passenger lifts	A service or goods lift may be the better route	Facilities manager

Hotels, hospitals and aged care are different

Hotels usually want room delivery. Guest lifts are busiest at checkout and in the evening, so a service lift, where one exists, often gives more reliable trip times.

Hospitals move specimens, linen, meals and supplies, and lifts may carry beds and emergency transfers. Robots must give way to clinical priorities, and route design should keep them out of lifts reserved for patient movement.

Aged residential care homes have residents using walking frames and wheelchairs who may be unsettled by a machine in a small space. Timing trips outside peak resident movement, such as meal times, helps.

Will people ride with the robot?

Often, yes. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Robotics and AI found that voice announcements explaining what the robot was doing noticeably improved how passengers rated both the robot and the lift, and made waits feel shorter, while light signals had little effect on impressions. Simple signage in lift lobbies and a short briefing for staff also help.

Robotx can help you work through lift integration with your building owner, lift contractor and IQP as part of a site assessment.