The first robot, nicknamed “Rosie,” started last month, performing two functions in the dining room — showing guests to their seats and running food from the kitchen to the tables. It also sings “Happy Birthday” when requested, plays music and talks to residents.

“It will never replace the human employee and interactions, but right now we don’t have the humans, so we’re getting the help we can,” said Maxwell, who explained the robots work the dinner shift alongside staff, consisting of one host and four servers.

“The robot minimizes the steps the servers have to take and allows them more time on the floor to take more orders,” she added.

Barbara Bucci, a Wesley resident for eight years, is a fan of Wesley’s recent solution to staffing while still leaving room for the human interaction.

“I’m really impressed that Wesley has gone high-tech to solve this situation here because of a lack of staff,” said Bucci. “We still have a personal touch because we still have a waitress to take our order and when the robot comes with our food, the waitress is there to serve it to us.”

“It moves quite agilely. It could’ve been a problem, running into people, but it doesn’t,” said Phil Monahan, a Wesley resident.

Filling in employee gaps with automated help allowed the dining room to reopen to its residents after closing in 2020 due to COVID precautions and the staffing shortages that followed.

“It’s helpful and we’re now able to be open three days a week because of the robots,” said Maxwell.

The ambience and social aspect of eating in the dining room is an option residents are grateful to have once again, said Monahan.

“Overall, it’s a good improvement. It’s a lot better and people are happier since opening up again,” he said.

Marion Soloski, a Wesley resident for 12 years, said the robots are fun and she’s happy it’s enabled a return to dining in-person.



“There’s been a lot of changes over the years, some for the better, some not. This is a change for the better,” said Soloski. “We paid a deep price with COVID when we couldn’t eat together, but now we can. The environment is good, the socialization is good.”

By delivering food to the tables, the robots allow servers, like Brenna Lee, more time to interact with residents and perform their duties under less pressure.

“It was weird to get used to working with her, but after the first couple shifts, I got really used to it because it cuts back on a lot of time,” said Lee.

“It’s definitely much more helpful with having less people. Because normally we would have to stop what we’re doing, run back, get the meal and then take it out. But now that’s gone. It’s really nice. It’s definitely nice having it,” added Lee.

George Coulton, a four-year Wesley resident, said the robots are a good addition to the dining room and he’s happy to see the staff get the extra help.

“The servers that work in here, that the robots are going to be helping, are just the greatest people. So, if these robots are going to take a load off the young people that work here, then I think it’s a wonderful thing. They do a lot,” said Coulton.