D&D 5E Can an unseen servant fly?

[greg kaye]

... It says, "Once on each of your turns as a bonus action, you can mentally command the servant to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object."
I wouldn't allow directions beyond:
"fetch x", "clean X", "mend X", "fold X", "ignite X", "serve X (specific food)", and "pour X (drink)".

Now that would annoy me as a player, as one of the fun aspects of these things is finding creative ways to make use of them.

Sure and, if an interpretation would fit the requirements of rules as fun, go for it. There's still plenty you can do with RAW.

I see unseen servants as being far more versatile than animated undead in terms both of what they can do and what they can be told to do.

While the unseen servant is mindless, perhaps it's fair to consider that the servant's "best of its ability" may (in non-strength-related ways) be better than a skeleton or zombie. For instance, the unseen servants that (downtime) pleasure my friend's bard might do a better job than something with bony fingers and no tongue or a shambling mound of flesh.
Skeleton... Speed 30 ft. STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 15 (+2) INT 6 (-2) WIS 8 (-1) CHA 5 (-3) Darkvision 60 Ft., passive Perception 9
Zombie... Speed 20 ft. STR 13 (+1) DEX 6 (-2) CON 16 (+3) INT 3 (-4) WIS 6 (-2) CHA 5 (-3) Darkvision 60 Ft., passive Perception 8
In comparison, the monster manual says that Commoners include peasants, serfs, slaves, servants, pilgrims, artisans, and hermits, so an unseen servant might be considered as a weak, vulnerable and slow commoner:
Unseen servant... Armor Class 10, Hit Points 4 (no, 1), Speed 30 ft. (no, 15 ft.)
STR 10 (no, 2) DEX 10 (+0) CON 10 (+0) INT 10 (+0) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 10 (+0)
Senses passive Perception 10
But the real power of unseen servants are that they are unseen and, if generated by rituals, you could have 6 of them, for instance, causing chaos within 60 ft of you.

..., a small device ... and the US picks that device up.

Perhaps an artificer might lend something like their infused goggles of the night to an unseen servant.

 

[greg kaye]

We also read that "The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range." Words such as "that you can see"... don't appear so, RAW, cast the ritual on one side of a locked door while getting your friends to occupy nearby spaces on your side of it and just hope that the unseen servant appears on the far side.