The Rise of Service Robots in the Hospitality Industry: Some Actionable Insights | Bost... - 1 views
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The current wave of service technologies is service robots, “system-based autonomous and adaptable interfaces that interact, communicate and deliver service to an organization’s customers”
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Service robots can be equipped with different levels of artificial intelligence: mechanical, analytical, intuitive, and empathetic
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Intuitive intelligence relates to the capability to process holistic and contextual thinking and thus provide personalized services. Empathetic intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and appropriately respond to people’s emotions. This “highest” level of intelligence enables service robots to deliver socially and emotionally interactive services, which is the ultimate goal of service robotics
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Service robots with these two levels of intelligence can basically handle functional tasks such as delivering food and answering a customer’s question. They free human staff from the high volume of trivial customer requests rather than taking higher-value roles.
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Adoption of service robots could signal low interpersonal contacts, reduce perceived risk of virus transmission
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Mechanical intelligence relates to standardized and transactional tasks, which require a minimal level of learning
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Analytical intelligence is based on systematic and rule-based learning from big data and enables logical thinking in decision-making.
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consumers’ acceptance of service robots is determined not only by its functionality (e.g., perceived usefulness and ease of use), but also by social-emotional and relational elements that robots can provide
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Service robots are becoming more and more popular in the hospitality industry. The need to provide contactless services to consumers (e.g., robotic food ordering and delivery) further accelerates the adoption of robots.
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Throughout this article, service robots are discussed, which communicate, interact, and provide services to clients of an organization. It is possible that service robots can reduce the chance of infectious diseases spread via interpersonal interactions, which could increase the likelihood of visits. There are different types of artificial intelligence that can be incorporated into service robots: mechanical, empathetic, analytical, and intuitive. Standardized and transactional tasks can be handled by mechanical robots, while analytical robots can handle logical thinking in the decision making process. During the implementation of service robots, companies should consider the crucial factors that influence the adoption/acceptance of the new technology by consumers. Robots can also provide social-emotional and relational factors that can be perceived as human by users.
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As Covid-19 hit, it came with the implementation of more robotics and AI systems in the hospitality industry. The systems allowed for less human interaction which aided in avoiding being infected. This resulted in customers wanting more of these systems in place as they now prefer the robotics to human staff when it comes to their safety concerns. The robotics have different roles based on their configuration levels.
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The use of service robots in the hospitality industry is on the rise. They are equipped with different levels of artificial intelligence in order to handle functional tasks as well as provide more personalized services.