Service robots’ feasibility in the hotel industry: A case study of Hotel Presidentti
Hahkio, Linh (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020060517376
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020060517376
Tiivistelmä
Service robots have become a trend in the hotel industry in the past few years. This thesis project investigates the technology and value a service robot might bring to a case hotel Original Sokos Hotel Presidentti. Based on the results, general conclusions are drawn for the hotel industry.
A pilot test using a humanoid robot, Pepper, was held in the Original Sokos Hotel Presi-dentti in 2019. The robot was installed with a reception application developed to show what a service robot can do in a hotel. The test aimed to capture customers’ opinions on using the robot through their expressions and behaviours.
The conclusion of the thesis is based on the data gained from the test. Overall, there are jobs in the hotel industry that can be done and assisted by service robots. Customers and employees of the hotel both show interest in the use of service robots in the hotel industry. The main value service robots can bring to the hotel industry comes from its entertaining features; however, more values are expected to be added as customers get used to using the robots for different purposes. Regarding service robots’ technology, there are limita-tions in speech recognition in noisy environments which aggravates user experience. There are also accidents coming from unexpected user behaviours that service robots cannot han-dle. Therefore, service robots are not yet ready to work fully unsupervised.
The results suggested new areas of research. There was not enough data to address the question of whether the customers’ excitement in using service robots is long-term or short-term. However, as the thesis was done from the perspective that there are limitations in time and resources, the thesis can be considered a success. The project found that it would be feasible to use service robots semi-automatically in the hotel industry and this research works well as a foundation for further research on the same topic.
A pilot test using a humanoid robot, Pepper, was held in the Original Sokos Hotel Presi-dentti in 2019. The robot was installed with a reception application developed to show what a service robot can do in a hotel. The test aimed to capture customers’ opinions on using the robot through their expressions and behaviours.
The conclusion of the thesis is based on the data gained from the test. Overall, there are jobs in the hotel industry that can be done and assisted by service robots. Customers and employees of the hotel both show interest in the use of service robots in the hotel industry. The main value service robots can bring to the hotel industry comes from its entertaining features; however, more values are expected to be added as customers get used to using the robots for different purposes. Regarding service robots’ technology, there are limita-tions in speech recognition in noisy environments which aggravates user experience. There are also accidents coming from unexpected user behaviours that service robots cannot han-dle. Therefore, service robots are not yet ready to work fully unsupervised.
The results suggested new areas of research. There was not enough data to address the question of whether the customers’ excitement in using service robots is long-term or short-term. However, as the thesis was done from the perspective that there are limitations in time and resources, the thesis can be considered a success. The project found that it would be feasible to use service robots semi-automatically in the hotel industry and this research works well as a foundation for further research on the same topic.