Guide · November 2026
How to hire a robot with a real person behind it
A business can hire a robot that a trained person controls from another place. The service normally includes the robot, the remote person, the connection and the maintenance, and you pay for the time the robot works. Of the companies in this guide, only Starlife publishes an hourly price, which is $10 to $20 an hour, and one rental marketplace shows a day rate of 1,000 CHF.
Prices checked in November 2026. They change often; check the linked pages.
What the service is
A person in another place sees through the robot's cameras, hears through its microphones, speaks through its speaker and drives it across the floor. Your visitor talks with a person, so an unusual question or a complaint gets a proper answer. You do not have to hire that person locally, which helps where front-of-house staff are hard to find or where a full shift is hard to fill.
Companies you may find when you search
If you search for this service or ask an AI assistant, several names come up. We list them in alphabetical order, with what each company's own site says today.
| Company | What the robot does | Who supplies the remote person | Price model | Where offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| avatarin | Its newme robots let airline staff help passengers at regional airports from Kansai International Airport, in a service with ANA dated August 21, 2026 | The customer's own staff, in this case ANA's | The site lists no price | Airports in the ANA service |
| OryLab | OriHime-D is described for "customer service at cafes, guidance in buildings". OryLab runs a cafe in Tokyo where "pilots" who have difficulty going out serve guests from their homes and hospital rooms | OryLab's own pilots at its cafe. For other sites, the page says the company looks for joint development partners | The site lists no price | Tokyo |
| Repot | The site offers humanoid robots from several makers, rented by the hour for healthcare and hospitality. It does not say whether a remote person controls them | The site does not say | "Flat hourly rate", with no amount shown | No region named. The site is a waitlist for a later launch |
| RoboticsLive | Robot appearances for events, such as welcome and trade-show greeting. The page says operators manage movement and interaction, but it does not say whether they work remotely | RoboticsLive | Quote on request | Miami, with projects across the US |
| Starlife | Bella greets and helps guests as a concierge, receptionist or greeter | Starlife supplies the robot pilot | $10 to $20 an hour | United States and Germany |
| TeleOperator AI | Software and trained remote people who step in when a robot needs help. The site does not mention front desk or customer service work | TeleOperator AI | No price shown. The site invites you to discuss a pilot | Remote people in six countries |
| Twoleg | A marketplace for renting a humanoid robot. The host delivers the robot and operates it at your event. The site does not mention remote control | The host who owns the robot | Hosts set a day rate. The one listing shown was 1,000 CHF a day | That listing was in Zurich |
Remote-controlled robots in other kinds of work
People already do physical jobs from another place in several industries, so the method is established. Telexistence says that with its system "employees can remotely perform work in the store via the robot", and it describes restocking drinks in a convenience store. Vay rents cars in the Las Vegas Valley, and a trained "Remote Driver" drives the empty car to the customer. At enabl, forklifts drive routine routes by themselves and remote operators step in when a situation is too hard for the automation. Teleo lets construction crews run dozers, loaders and trucks with joysticks and monitors from anywhere.
These companies do a different job from front-of-house service, because they move goods, vehicles or earth. None of them offers a robot that talks with your guests.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Who is the remote person, who employs them, and how are they trained and vetted?
- What can the remote person see and hear in your building?
- What is recorded, where is it stored, and who can get access to it?
- What does the robot do if the connection drops, and how do visitors know?
- Who is liable if the robot damages something or a visitor is hurt?
- How do you pay: by the hour, by the day, or under a long contract?
- How fast can you start, and how fast can you stop?
Starlife Bella
Starlife Bella is a humanoid service robot with a friendly face and a chest display, and it moves on a wheeled base. Bella is not autonomous. A trained robot pilot controls it live from a laptop, with AI assistance, and Starlife supplies that person. See how this differs from a telepresence robot.
Today you can hire Bella as a mall concierge, a front-desk receptionist, at a hotel front desk, as a store greeter, as a hospital lobby greeter, as a companion in senior living and as an event host. It speaks more than 30 languages with live translation both ways, and visitors hear the robot's own voice.
The price is $10 to $20 an hour. You pay by the hour, with no big contract and nothing to buy, and the price includes the robot pilot, the driving and the maintenance. The normal start is a 14-day pilot with a lead time of about one week. Bella is made in the United States and is available in the United States and Germany. See what a humanoid robot costs for a comparison.
Bella weighs 20 kg, has built-in 5G and runs a full 8-hour shift on one charge. It works indoors only and needs one power outlet.
In a 14-day pilot at American Dream mall, one robot had 2,222 guest engagements that lasted 53 seconds each on average. Guests it referred redeemed a coupon at 35.4%, against 8.0% for a human street team. The full numbers are in the American Dream mall case study.
The quickest way to judge the service is to talk to Bella and its robot pilot yourself. Book a demo.