> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.routiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How Robyn Works > What Robyn does, what she escalates, and why she's safe to put on the front line of your clinic. **Why this matters.** Most "AI receptionist" tools give you a chatbot with a phone number. Robyn is built differently — she handles the work a real receptionist does (booking, triage, follow-up), stays inside the safe lane for allied health by design, and gets out of the way the moment a patient needs a human. ## What Robyn is Robyn is your clinic's **Reception Assistant** — she assists the human team rather than replacing them. She handles the predictable, high-volume work (bookings, reminders, simple questions, recall outreach) so your front desk can focus on the patients who are physically in the room. She's not a clinician. She doesn't give medical advice, diagnose, or recommend treatments. Anything that crosses into clinical territory gets handed straight to a human on your team. ## What Robyn does Reads real-time availability from your PMS, books straight into the calendar, recognises returning patients by phone number. Patient asks; Robyn handles. Reschedules counted as reschedules in your reporting (not cancel-then-rebook). From your knowledge base — directions, parking, opening hours, service descriptions, fees, cancellation policy. Multi-touch outreach to lapsed patients, post-visit follow-ups, waitlist callbacks, invoice chasing. New-patient details (name, DOB, contact, referral source) collected by voice or text, written straight into your PMS. Anything outside her scope hands off — call transfer, email notification, or per-practitioner routing. ## What Robyn escalates By design, Robyn hands off to your team when: * A patient asks for **clinical advice** ("should I take ibuprofen?", "is this normal after my treatment?") * A patient describes a **medical emergency or symptom requiring triage** * A patient asks to **speak to a specific practitioner** by name * A patient **expresses dissatisfaction** or asks to make a complaint * A patient asks something **the knowledge base doesn't cover** — Robyn flags it as a "knowledge gap" so you can add the answer next time * A patient **explicitly asks for a human** You decide how escalations route — call transfer to a clinic line, email notification with the conversation summary, or hybrid (transfer in-hours, email out-of-hours). See [Human Escalations](/features/human-escalations). ## Built on behavioural science Robyn's outbound messages — reminders, follow-ups, recall sequences — are designed using behavioural-science principles around timing, reciprocity, and loss aversion. Not because we want her to manipulate patients, but because the alternative (generic "you're overdue, book now" templates) consistently underperforms in the data. This is a knowledge layer, not a clinical layer. Behavioural science informs *when* and *how* Robyn nudges, not *what* care she recommends. ## What your patient experiences > **Patient (call):** Hi, I want to book an appointment with Dr Lin. > > **Robyn:** Sure — is this for a new visit or a follow-up? > > **Patient:** Follow-up. My knee. > > **Robyn:** Got it. Looking at Dr Lin's diary — there's a slot this Friday at 2pm or next Tuesday at 9am. Which works better? > > **Patient:** Friday's good. > > **Robyn:** Done — booked you in for Friday 9th May at 2pm with Dr Lin at the Bondi rooms. You'll get a confirmation text in a minute. Anything else? ## Designed for AHPRA compliance Routiq is built to operate inside the lines AHPRA draws around clinical communication: * Robyn is described to patients as a **virtual reception assistant**, never a clinician * All clinical questions are escalated, not answered * All recall messaging is opt-out by default (`STOP` to unsubscribe) * Patient data stays inside your PMS and Routiq's encrypted database — no third-party training, no data sale * Audit logs of every Robyn conversation are retained for compliance See [Security & Compliance](/security/overview) for the full picture. ## Common questions Robyn introduces herself by name. Most patients understand within the first few seconds that they're talking to an assistant, and the conversations are designed to feel useful rather than to deceive. Patients who explicitly ask to speak to a human get routed to one. Three layers of safety: (1) Robyn escalates anything she's unsure about by design, (2) every conversation is transcript-logged and reviewable in the dashboard, (3) the knowledge-gap loop means questions she couldn't answer get flagged for you to fix. Yes. Voice (accent, pitch, speed) is configurable. Tone follows your knowledge base and a custom instructions field — you can make her warmer, more clinical, more concise, etc. You can also rename her if "Robyn" doesn't fit your brand. Robyn keeps answering calls and capturing intake; bookings queue and sync as soon as the PMS is reachable again. The patient never sees the outage. No — that's not the design. Robyn handles the predictable, high-volume work so your team can spend time on the patients in front of them. Most clinics use Robyn alongside reception, not instead of it. ## Next Connect your PMS and take your first call in 5 minutes. How Robyn picks up calls, texts, emails, WhatsApp, and website chat.