Real estate robots: San Francisco startup using 3-foot-tall roving devices for showings

Zenplace allows realtors to work remotely while giving house tours to prospective clients. The startup, Zenplace, launched last summer. Zenplace allows realtors to work remotely while giving house tours to prospective clients. The startup, Zenplace, launched last summer. Photo: Mike Costa / Courtesy Zenplace Photo: Mike Costa / Courtesy Zenplace Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Real estate robots: San Francisco startup using 3-foot-tall roving devices for showings 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

Zenplace, a property management startup in San Francisco, is using robots to lead prospective tenants around for showings. The startup says it wants to make the scheduling process easier for real estate agents and tenants; apparently the best way to do that is to switch out a human body for 3-foot-tall robotic devices.

Realtors can control the robots remotely from anywhere. During showing hours, if a tenant walks by a Zenplace home, they can schedule a tour either by smartphone or just by unlocking the front door. The app provides an access code for the door and step-by-step instructions for dealing with the real estate robot.

Zenplace launched in the summer of 2017. Now, a few hundred robots are acting as home tour guides in the Bay Area. The remote Realtors can also switch out their faces for images of other neighborhood amenities, or information on rental history.

Wondering where else you can stumble upon a robot? Check out our slideshow above for the startups that are slowly transforming everyday life in the Bay Area.

Without the normal hassles of transportation, replacing a body for a robot might make meeting sales goals easier. But some Realtors say the devices just don't do justice to the unique qualities of human interactions you find beyond the screen.

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"When you've been in the business as long as I have, you often get a gut feeling about someone when you're sitting across the table from them," Rick Smith, president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, told the Bay Area News Group.

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The company has a lot in common with Beam, a Palo Alto startup that's also trying to bridge distance with the help of semi-autonomous devices. The 53-inch, battery-powered device looks like an elliptical machine, minus the exercise. It allows workers or others to navigate around an area and do everything that people in real life do: discuss project strategies, attend meetings, or make awkward holiday conversation.

But it also lays the groundwork for a society — both professionally and personally — in which leaving the house is a rare occurrence.

Read Annie Vainshtein's latest stories here. Send her news tips at avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain