Service With A Cyber Touch: Robots In The Service Industry - 0 views
started by seobusiness1991 on 03 Jun 19
started by seobusiness1991 on 03 Jun 19
started by seobusiness1991 on 03 Jun 19
started by seobusiness1991 on 03 Jun 19
Debates on automation often point to jobs that require interpersonal skills as the last safe haven for humans: The robots will take over factory floors and Artificial Intelligence will dominate programming and management; we will retreat into hospitality and health care to assist our fellow humans.
Techmetics, a Singapore-based robotics company, has a different idea. It has developed robots targeted exactly at the hospitality and health care industry. Techmetics’ approach offers interesting insights into the Future of Work.
First, even industries focused on interpersonal relationships require tasks that are menial, repetitive and physically taxing. Pushing a heavy trolley loaded with clean towels down interminable hotel corridors, for example. Or carrying medical equipment, medicines or blood samples from one hospital room to another.
These tasks can be required urgently and at short notice. A surgeon needs an additional piece of medical equipment, and she needs it now—a nurse has to run and get it. A hotel guest comes out of the shower and needs additional towels—an employee will have to drop whatever he is doing, and deliver them. These sudden requests interrupt the regular flow of work, reducing productivity.
Second, we don’t always like interacting with other humans. You might not hold the dark misanthropic view of French philosopher Sartre, who wrote “hell is other people”, but fresh out of the shower with a towel around your waist you might still prefer opening the door to a robot rather than to a hotel employee—a robot will also save you from the awkward culture-specific minefield of tipping.
Third, for all the fear that robots will soon automate all but the highest-skilled jobs, the hospitality industry in several countries faces labor shortages for low-skill jobs. Singapore’s hospitality sector enjoys fast-growing demand from business travel and tourism; but Singapore’s labor supply lags behind, as the population is increasingly well-educated and aging. Japan faces a similar challenge. Immigration can help address the labor shortage, but it brings other economic and social challenges.
Techmetics’ founder, Mathan Muthupillai, developed a passion for robotics at an early age and decided that robots could provide an answer. The company has now developed nine different models of robots. Some can bring heavy carts of linens and amenities to specific locations; some can deliver meals or medical supplies; some can deliver drinks (though not mix cocktails …); and some act as mobile information booths.
The robots look like close relatives of R2D2, and their amped-up cuteness factor with cartoonish eyes and smiles helps accelerate human acceptance. Setting them up is surprisingly easy, according to Hiren Mowji, VP of Sales and Marketing, and often takes no more than a couple of days: First, a Techmetics expert uses a joystick to drive an “explorer” robot around the facility, mapping the terrain. The electronic map is reviewed for accuracy; an easy to use fleet management software then allows to program and dispatch robots across the facility, on a pre-planned schedule or as the need arises. The software can be installed as an app or as a web-based application.
The robots connect to the network via wi-fi, with a 4G cellular backup. They will immediately stop if they encounter an unexpected obstacle; for safety reasons, they then have limited leeway for initiative…they wait for the obstacle to disappear, but if it does not, they ask for human help. So if a child suddenly runs out of a room, the robot will stop on a dime and patiently submit to the child’s curiosity…
How to coordinate with elevators, it turns out, is one of the biggest challenges for robots (as for humans in any large building, one might argue). The robots communicate wirelessly with the elevators, rather than pushing buttons, so Techmetics needs to collaborate with the elevator company to integrate the software systems.
The response has so far been very positive, according to Hiren Mowji. As is always the case when a new technology makes its way into the workplace, some are quicker to embrace it while some react with diffidence and fear; but where Techmetics robots have joined the workforce, most of their human colleagues have quickly come to appreciate the ability to offload some of the most arduous and tedious tasks to the smiling mechanical helpers.
What do the human workers do with the extra time freed up by the robots’ help? Hiren Mowji notes that in the hospitality business “there are never enough hours in a day” for all the work required of the housekeeping staff. They will now be able to provide extra care to make sure every aspect of the guests’ experience measures up to expectations, from making sure each room is perfectly set up to meeting those customer requests that require more thoughtful attention.
The hotel management gets the opportunity to provide additional training so workers can take on more complex responsibilities. It is still early days, but this will be an important proof point in the debate on whether the introduction of robots will be a net positive for the workforce in the industry.
In the case of health care, nurses are already well equipped with the skills that will make any additional time spent with the patients extremely valuable.
So far, the Asian market is proving to be the fastest adopter for Techmetics’ technology. In part this reflects the aging demographics and in part the greater cultural readiness to embrace robotics, as in the cases of Japan and Singapore.
But as cute-looking, customer-facing robots become a more familiar sight, acceptance will likely take off in Western countries as well, helped by stronger economic incentives: the average hourly wage of hotel staff in the US is significantly higher than in Singapore, for example, so that the value of redeploying that hour of labor to higher-end tasks is correspondingly higher. And the child who meets a friendly robot in a hotel corridor will probably grow up into an adult who’s less afraid of a dystopian “robocalypse”.
The technology will keep getting better. Techmetics boasts of its robots’ proficiency in multi-point delivery, i.e. their ability to collect different items from multiple locations and convey them to different destinations. So far, this provides greater efficiency and cost reductions without having to tackle the issue of dexterity, the ability to manipulate objects (and push the elevator’s buttons…). But that might come. Techmetics keeps pushing its R&D on both the software and hardware side, well aware that as in many other technology fields, “if you are not moving forward, you will soon become history.”
The company has also started to make inroads in manufacturing, the more traditional hunting ground for robots--but for now its main focus remains on services. Does that mean there is nowhere left for humans to work? Not at all. "We design robots to take over tasks that humans don't like to do and should not need to do--says Hiren Mowji--Innovation has always created more and better jobs for humans; this time will be no different."