The hospitality industry has spent the past decade chasing efficiency. What it often lost along the way was the guest experience.
At CES, TechForce Robotics is making a case that hotels do not have to choose between cutting costs and delivering great service. With live demonstrations of its service robots, the company is showing how automation can remove the most physically demanding tasks from human workers while improving operations, consistency, and guest satisfaction.
Leading the charge is Ried Floco, President and Director of TechForce Robotics, whose career spans more than three decades in hospitality and over 15 years in technology development. Unlike many robotics founders, Floco did not come from a pure engineering background. He came from the front lines of hotel operations.
“Our goal has always been to solve real-world problems,” Floco said at the company’s CES booth. “I do not think humans should be moving trash and dirty linens all day anymore. Robots can do that autonomously and safely, and that frees people up to do higher-value work.”
That philosophy is on full display at CES, where TechForce Robotics is showcasing two of its core systems: TIM-E and BIM-E.
TIM-E, short for Things in Motion Everywhere, is an intelligent service robot designed for real operational environments. Unlike novelty robots, TIM-E is built to work around people, not avoid them. It navigates autonomously, adapts to obstacles in real time, reroutes in crowded spaces, and integrates with doors and elevators to move across multiple floors. Modular attachments allow it to handle waste removal, linens, deliveries, luggage, and more. At CES, TIM-E is performing live demonstrations, including autonomously opening doors and operating with a simulated elevator system.
BIM-E, short for Beverages in Motion Everywhere, addresses a different but equally critical challenge. Designed for high-volume environments such as hotels, convention centers, and large events, BIM-E delivers perfectly consistent pours every few seconds for both hot and cold beverages. With a compact footprint and rapid throughput, the system reduces long lines and abandoned sales while improving guest satisfaction. At CES, attendees sampled cold brew coffee and flavored seltzer waters to experience the system’s speed and quality firsthand.
“For events where lines are 30 or 40 people deep, waiting kills the experience,” Floco said. “We can pour a drink every seven seconds. Guests are happier, and businesses serve more customers. It’s a win-win.”
What separates TechForce Robotics from many automation companies is that it operates its own hospitality assets. The company deploys robots in properties it owns and manages, allowing it to refine systems in live environments before scaling them to customers.
“At first there’s always fear,” Floco said. “People wonder if robots are replacing jobs. What actually happens is the opposite. We make those jobs easier and more sustainable.”
In properties where TIM-E has been deployed, housekeepers no longer have to haul trash and linens across long corridors. Instead, they can focus on guest interaction and quality control. Floco recalls early testing periods where robots were temporarily removed for upgrades.
“The teams practically revolted,” he said. “They wanted the robots back because it saved their backs and made their days better.”
The technology also addresses a growing operational crisis. Many hotels face labor shortages, rising wages, and pressure to cut costs without degrading service. Robots allow properties to restore services that were eliminated entirely, such as bell services and in-room delivery, without unsustainable staffing models.
Privacy and data security are another major focus. All TechForce Robotics systems run on USA-based servers, with options for fully on-premise deployments. For regulated environments such as hospitals, senior living, or government facilities, data can be locked down so that even TechForce Robotics cannot access it externally.
“Ownership and control of data is critical,” Floco said. “We can deploy fully self-contained systems that meet strict compliance requirements.”
Rather than selling hardware alone, TechForce Robotics operates as a robotics service provider. The company installs, manages, maintains, and updates its systems, removing the burden of robot management from customers.
“You do not have to learn robotics,” Floco said. “We handle that. The robot should just work.”
At CES, the booth traffic tells the story. As service industries search for ways to restore experience without breaking budgets, TechForce Robotics is positioning itself not as a novelty, but as infrastructure.
The message is simple. Let robots handle the hardest, least human tasks. Let people do what people do best.
And make hospitality feel human again.
