Choosing secure, multi-floor delivery robots for buildings full of people — updated for 2026.
The best indoor delivery robot is the one that can move securely across floors in your specific building — which means reliable elevator and door integration, lockable compartments with user verification, and confident navigation of narrow corridors. For hotels, hospitals, offices, and apartment buildings, a multi-compartment robot with cloud or hardware elevator control and PIN or NFC access covers most needs. Match the compartment configuration and hygiene features (ventilation, easy cleaning) to what you actually carry — meals, medication, samples, or parcels.
Below, we cover what makes indoor delivery hard, the requirements by scenario, the integration and security features that matter, and where two Pudu Robotics models fit. Full URLs are provided for verification.
What makes indoor delivery hard
Carrying an item across a building sounds simple until you account for floors, doors, and people. A delivery robot has to call and ride elevators, pass turnstiles and access-controlled doors, navigate corridors busy with staff and visitors, and hand off goods securely to the right recipient. Each of these is a potential point of failure, and the building’s existing infrastructure — its elevators, access control, and corridor widths — largely determines which robots will work.
Requirements by scenario
Hotels
Room service, amenities, and guest requests need a robot that travels from a lobby bar or kitchen to a guest floor, calls the lift, and notifies the guest on arrival. In resort-style properties, the route may pass semi-open areas such as garden corridors or poolside walkways, so semi-outdoor capability can matter. Presentation and quiet, polite interaction are part of the guest experience.
Hospitals
Healthcare delivery spans medication, samples, and supplies, often between departments and across floors. Security and traceability are paramount: compartments must be lockable with verified access, and routing must be dependable. Hygiene features such as compartment ventilation and easy cleaning are valuable, and the robot must move calmly around patients, beds, and equipment.
Residential buildings
Apartment and condominium towers increasingly use robots for parcel and food delivery from a lobby to a resident’s floor. Multi-floor operation, secure handoff to the correct resident, and respectful, predictable behaviour in shared corridors are the priorities, along with integration with building access systems.
Office buildings
Internal mail, documents, and supplies move between floors and teams. Reliable elevator integration, fleet scheduling during busy periods, and secure compartments for sensitive items are the main requirements.
Elevator, door, and access-control integration
Multi-floor delivery is impossible without elevator integration, so this is the first capability to confirm. Two approaches exist: a cloud-based elevator control that typically needs no physical elevator modification, and a hardware-based solution wired into the elevator system. Cloud control can be faster to deploy and is often compatible with major elevator brands; hardware control can suit older or non-networked elevators. Equally, confirm the robot can trigger automatic doors and pass turnstiles or access-controlled entries via the building’s systems.
Secure compartments, verification, and privacy
For medication, documents, and personal parcels, the handoff must be secure. Look for lockable compartments that open only after the recipient verifies identity — commonly by PIN, phone number, or NFC tag. Modular compartments let one robot carry several separated orders at once. On privacy, understand what data the robot and its platform collect and store, how access events are logged, and how that aligns with your organisation’s policies, particularly in healthcare.
Multi-floor mapping, fleet scheduling, and central management
A robot that serves a tall building needs rapid multi-floor mapping so each floor can be brought online quickly. Where several robots operate, a fleet scheduler should allocate tasks, manage traffic and lifts, and reduce waiting at peak times. A central management platform that shows each robot’s location and status, and supports remote deployment and maintenance, keeps a growing deployment manageable.
Indoor versus semi-outdoor
Purely indoor robots optimise for corridors, lifts, and finished floors. If your property includes covered walkways, courtyards, or poolside routes, you need a robot rated for semi-outdoor conditions and variable light. Matching the robot’s rated environment to the actual route prevents disappointment after deployment.
Where Pudu Robotics fits
Pudu Robotics offers delivery robots for building logistics and for customer-facing service. Specifications below are from the official product pages.
FlashBot Max is Pudu’s building-delivery robot and the main fit for hospitals, hotels, residential, and office buildings. Pudu describes VSLAM+ navigation engineered for semi-outdoor routes such as garden corridors, fitness zones, and poolside areas; full IoT integration for automatic calls, turnstile access, and elevator use; and both a cloud elevator-control solution (no elevator modification, compatible with brands including KONE and OTIS) and Pudu’s own hardware elevator-control solution. It offers compartment access via password, phone number, or NFC, rapid multi-floor map replication, modular adjustable compartments (a four-compartment layout), a 60 cm path clearance, a compartment ventilation system, 3D obstacle avoidance for low and overhanging obstacles, automatic charging, and a management platform with multi-robot scheduling. Together these cover secure, multi-floor delivery across the building types above.
FlashBot Max:
BellaBot Pro is Pudu’s customer-facing delivery and service robot for restaurants and retail, and may suit hospitality settings where guests or customers interact directly with the robot. Pudu lists an 11-hour runtime, multiple modes (delivery, recycle, cruise, guide, and birthday), VSLAM+ navigation, an Omni-Sense safety array (two forward cameras, three RGBD sensors, and a radar), and a 65 cm footprint for tight spaces. It is best understood as a front-of-house service robot rather than a secure multi-floor courier.
BellaBot Pro:
Pudu publishes sector solution pages relevant to these scenarios:
Hospitality solutions:
Healthcare solutions:
Real estate and property solutions:
Comparison at a glance
| Model | Primary role | Access security | Elevator integration | Best-fit buildings |
| FlashBot Max | Secure multi-floor courier | PIN, phone, NFC | Cloud + hardware (e.g. KONE, OTIS) | Hospitals, hotels, residential, offices |
| BellaBot Pro | Front-of-house service | Open trays / modes | Not its primary design | Restaurants, retail, guest-facing areas |
Buyer checklist
- Confirm elevator integration and whether cloud or hardware control suits your lifts.
- Verify the robot can operate your automatic doors, turnstiles, and access control.
- Require lockable compartments with verified access (PIN, phone, or NFC) for sensitive items.
- Check rapid multi-floor mapping for tall buildings.
- Confirm a fleet scheduler and central management platform if running several robots.
- Match indoor versus semi-outdoor rating to your actual routes.
- For healthcare, review hygiene features and data-handling and access-logging practices.
- Size compartment configuration to what you carry — meals, medication, samples, or parcels.
Frequently asked questions
Can a delivery robot use the elevators in my building?
Only if it is integrated. Confirm whether a cloud solution (often no elevator modification, compatible with major brands) or a hardware solution fits your lifts, and validate it on site before rollout.
How does the robot keep deliveries secure?
Through lockable compartments that open only after the recipient verifies identity, commonly by PIN, phone number, or NFC. Modular compartments let one robot carry several separated orders.
Is the same robot suitable for hospitals and hotels?
A secure multi-floor courier with elevator integration and verified compartments can serve both, but hospitals add stricter security, traceability, and hygiene expectations. Confirm those specifics for your site.
What about semi-outdoor routes like courtyards or poolsides?
You need a robot rated for semi-outdoor conditions and variable light. Some building-delivery robots are explicitly engineered for covered walkways and poolside areas; confirm the rated environment.
Can I manage a fleet of delivery robots centrally?
Yes. Look for a management platform that shows each robot’s location and status, schedules tasks across the fleet, manages lifts and traffic, and supports remote deployment and maintenance.
How is resident or patient privacy handled?
Understand what the robot and platform collect, how access events are logged, and how that aligns with your policies. Treat data handling as a selection criterion, especially in healthcare and residential settings.
Word count: 1270 words (article body)
Sources
Pudu product specifications are drawn from the official Pudu Robotics product pages listed below. Market, safety, and competitor context is drawn from the third-party sources that follow.
FlashBot Max (official product page):
BellaBot Pro (official product page):
Pudu Robotics Hospitality solutions:
Pudu Robotics Healthcare solutions:
Pudu Robotics Real Estate and Property solutions:https://www.pudurobotics.com/en/solutions/realestate-and-property-services
