Improving human–robot interactions in hospitality settings

Abstract

PurposeService robotics, a branch of robotics that entails the development of robots able to assist humans in their environment, is of growing interest in the hospitality industry. Designing effective autonomous service robots, however, requires an understanding of Human–Robot Interaction (HRI), a relatively young discipline dedicated to understanding, designing, and evaluating robotic systems for use by or with humans. HRI has not yet received sufficient attention in hospitality robotic design, much like Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) in property management system design in the 1980s. This article proposes a set of introductory HRI guidelines with implementation standards for autonomous hospitality service robots.Design/methodology/approachA set of key user-centered HRI guidelines for hospitality service robots were extracted from 52 research articles. These are organized into service performance categories to provide more context for their application in hospitality settings.FindingsBased on an extensive literature review, this article presents some HRI guidelines that may drive higher levels of acceptance of service robots in customer-facing situations. Deriving meaningful HRI guidelines requires an understanding of how customers evaluate service interactions with humans in hospitality settings and to what degree those will differ with service robots.Originality/valueRobots are challenging assumptions on how hospitality businesses operate. They are being increasingly deployed by hotels and restaurants to boost productivity and maintain service levels. Effective HRI guidelines incorporate user requirements and expectations in the design specifications. Compilation of such information for designers of hospitality service robots will offer a clearer roadmap for them to follow.

The Effect of Perceptions on Service Robot Usage Intention: A Survey Study in the Service Sector

“…When they interact with clients, they use body language and facial expressions to aid incomprehension. For instance, when greeting customers from a distance, robots send a "Yes, I understand you" message accompanied by a slight nod or smile [34].…”

“…While on the Costa Cruise Lines' service, passengers can enjoy the assistance of Pepper, which is available in three languages, English, German, and Italian. The most well-known asset at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a technologist who is frequently seen serving guests with answers to hotel-specific details, guiding them, telling stories, and snapping selfies [34].…”

Pros and Cons of Robot, Artificial Intelligence, and Service Automation (RAISA) Technologies to be Adopted and Implemented in Service Industries

“…Some examples of its application that have been carried out in various service sectors around the world are also presented. This example was adopted from a study conducted by [3] - [5]. There are four general areas in the service industry that can be reorganized, namely operations management, human resource management, marketing management, and financial management.…”

“…Financial costs, associated with RAISA -acquisition, installation, maintenance, software update, for creating robot-friendly facilities, for up-skilling human resources, insurance costs for robots/kiosk and for damages caused by robots. Source: Adopted from [4], [5] The various examples of RAISA applications in the service business context above have implications for various layers that can be strengthened through the integration of technology into the company's business processes. In the near future, RAISA adoption is believed to spread rapidly in various other sectors and service industries.…”

“…This robot can be a virtual assistant capable of studying and suggesting what actions a company should take to increase its position in the data-driven market. Some researchers predict that more than 70% of the company's future business operations will be automated by robots or machine learning [5], [8], [12], [13]. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic will increasingly force many service sectors to integrate RAISA in their business processes indirectly because the capital costs for this technology are quite expensive.…”