McMinnville, Ore. – December 6, 2021 – The Springs Living has new additions to its dining teams – robots. The robots do the mundane tasks of delivering orders between the kitchen and the dining room so that staff can focus on what they do best – nurturing relationships with residents.
“The great thing about the robots is that they augment our servers’ role by doing the tasks that don’t take a warm smile or a caring person to do,” said Fee Stubblefield, CEO of The Springs Living. “This frees up staff to focus on their relationships with residents, whose feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”
“The robots are a great conversation piece when our friends and family come to visit us,” said LeAnn Eggleston, a resident at The Springs of Lake Oswego in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Produced by Bear Robotics in Silicon Valley, the robots are named “Servi”. Each robot has three tiers where trays can be placed to deliver hot food from the kitchen quickly and to return empty dishes when residents are finished dining. Each robot can hold up to 66 pounds and has a battery life up to 12 hours.
"It's our hope that these automation tools help to bring about not only a higher standard of service for these communities, but also help to connect residents and staff by eliminating repetitive work, reducing burnout, and increasing employee retention," said Juan Higueros, co-founder and COO of Bear Robotics.
The Springs Living launched the robot servers at The Springs at Lake Oswego in August, gradually adding more robot servers in its other communities. Based on positive feedback from the dining staff and residents, the company plans to continue to add more robots in 2022.
Bear Robotics
Backed by SoftBank Group and based in Redwood City, California, Bear Robotics’ multi-award-winning robots operate in restaurants, corporate campuses, ghost kitchens, senior care facilities, and casinos across North America, Asia, and Europe.
The Springs Living
Based in McMinnville, Oregon, The Springs Living owns and operates 18 senior living communities in Oregon and Montana, offering independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. Two additional communities are under development in Happy Valley, Ore. and Vancouver, Washington.
