HRI Users' Studies in the Context of the SciRoc Challenge: Some Insights on Gender-Based Differences

In this paper, we present the outcomes of the first user study designed and evaluated in the context of the Smart City Robotics Challenge (SciRoc Challenge). The study presented in this paper has the main novelty of having been devised and implemented in a realistic environment: a robot competition where robot tasks were developed by participant teams, robots were fully autonomous, and user questionnaires were part of the competition score. Specifically, our study was performed over a scenario configured to instruct a robot to take an elevator of a shopping mall asking for customers support. Leveraging the dedicated questionnaire designed for the tested scenario, we validated the experimental hypothesis if user perception of robots' behaviour may be influenced by the user's gender. In the end, we discuss the results of our study

The ECHORD++ Project: Robotics in a public economy

The idea of the ECHORD project was born before the economic crisis had its maximum impact on the robotics industry. Therefore, the concept of a project with the clear goal to strengthen the collaboration between academia and industry was a good opportunity to support the industry by offering funding opportunities and fostering already existing networks and creating new partnerships with the academic world taking into account the circular economy in the productive cycle of the intelligent robotics solutions to solve the challenges of the modern cities. One of the most innovative part of this project is to foster the participation of public investment in new robotic projects mainly in urban robotics. At this moment, more than 40 european cities have been participating in the challenge that ECHORD++ proposed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Estão os portugueses preparados para o futuro do turismo? Aplicação do modelo de aceitação tecnológica ao uso de robots em turismo

The tourism sector has been growing exponentially in Portugal over the last few years, becoming increasingly competitive. On the other hand, the use of machines, robots and artificial intelligence in this industry that is built by and for people, has also been increasing and diversifying. The objective of this investigation focuses on the study of variables that can affect the acceptance of robots by the Portuguese public. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is applied to understand the influence of a set of sociodemographic variables, travel behavior, motivation, and attitude towards technology in general in the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of using robots in tourism. The results obtained demonstrate that the Portuguese case is similar to that of other Western countries, with gender, age, travel group, motivation and attitude towards technology having a significant impact on the dependent variables.O setor do turismo em Portugal tem vindo a crescer exponencialmente nos últimos anos, tornando-se cada vez mais competitivo. Por outro lado, o uso de máquinas, robots e inteligência artificial nesta que é uma indústria construída por e para pessoas, tem também vindo a aumentar e a diversificar-se. O objetivo desta investigação centra-se no estudo das variáveis que podem afetar a aceitação dos robots por parte do público português. É aplicado o Modelo de Aceitação Tecnológica para perceber a influência de um conjunto de variáveis sociodemográficas, de comportamento em viagem, de motivação e de atitude face à tecnologia em geral na facilidade de utilização percebida e utilidade percebida do uso de robots em turismo. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que o caso português se assemelha ao de outros países ocidentais, tendo o género, idade, grupo de viagem, motivação e atitude face à tecnologia um impacto significativo nas variáveis dependentes.Mestrado em Gestão e Planeamento em Turism

Introducing a Smart City Component in a Robotic Competition: A Field Report

In recent years, two fields have become more prominent in our everyday life: smart cities and service robots. In a smart city, information is collected from distributed sensors around the city into centralised data hubs and used to improve the efficiency of the city systems and provide better services to citizens. Exploiting major advances in Computer Vision and Machine Learning, service robots have evolved from performing simple tasks to playing the role of hotel concierges, museum guides, waiters in cafes and restaurants, home assistants, automated delivery drones, and more. As digital agents, robots can be prime members of the smart city vision. On the one hand, smart city data can be accessed by robots to gain information that is relevant to the task in hand. On the other hand, robots can act as mobile sensors and actuators on behalf of the smart city, thus contributing to the data acquisition process. However, the connection between service robots and smart cities is surprisingly under-explored. In an effort to stimulate advances on the integration between robots and smart cities, we turned to robot competitions and hosted the first Smart Cities Robotics Challenge (SciRoc). The contest included activities specifically designed to require cooperation between robots and the MK Data Hub, a Smart City data infrastructure. In this article, we report on the competition held in Milton Keynes (UK) in September 2019, focusing in particular on the role played by the MK Data Hub in simulating a Smart City Data Infrastructure for service robots. Additionally, we discuss the feedback we received from the various people involved in the SciRoc Challenge, including participants, members of the public and organisers, and summarise the lessons learnt from this experience

Perspective Chapter: European Robotics League – Benchmarking through Smart City Robot Competitions

The SciRoc project, started in 2018, is an EU-H2020 funded project supporting the European Robotics League (ERL) and builds on the success of the EU-FP7/H2020 projects RoCKIn, euRathlon, EuRoC and ROCKEU2. The ERL is a framework for robot competitions currently consisting of three challenges: ERL Consumer, ERL Professional and ERL Emergency. These three challenge scenarios are set up in urban environments and converge every two years under one major tournament: the ERL Smart Cities Challenge. Smart cities are a new urban innovation paradigm promoting the use of advanced technologies to improve citizens’ quality of life. A key novelty of the SciRoc project is the ERL Smart Cities Challenge, which aims to show how robots will integrate into the cities of the future as physical agents. The SciRoc Project ran two such ERL Smart Cities Challenges, the first in Milton Keynes, UK (2019) and the second in Bologna, Italy (2021). In this chapter we evaluate the three challenges of the ERL, explain why the SciRoc project introduced a fourth challenge to bring robot benchmarking to Smart Cities and outline the process in conducting a Smart City event under the ERL umbrella. These innovations may pave the way for easier robotic benchmarking in the future

Instrument Development for R-Service Quality: A Literature Review

Motivated by a paucity of knowledge on the measurement of robotic service (r-service) quality, the current study strives to review the existing literature on r-service quality, with a focus on the potential methodological issues of developing measurement instruments and identifying the dimensionality of r-service quality. With a content analysis of 55 articles, this study identifies several methodological limitations of existing studies in developing measurement scales of r-service quality. This review reveals that dimensions of r-service quality are prone to be contingent on specific con-texts of service industry and service type. Several common dimensions regarding evaluating r-service are identified, including tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, empathy, assurance, ease of use/usability, usefulness, anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, and social presence. This study is the first systematic literature review on r-service quality dimensionality

iRobot : conceptualising SERVBOT for humanoid social robots

Services are intangible in nature and, as a result, it is often difficult to measure the quality of the service. The service is usually delivered by a human to a human customer and the service literature shows SERVQUAL can be used to measure the quality of the service. However, the use of social robots during the pandemic is speeding up the process of employing social roots in frontline service settings. An extensive review of the literature shows there is a lack of an empirical model to assess the perceived service quality provided by a social robot. Furthermore, the social robot literature highlights key differences between human service and social robots. For example, scholars have highlighted the importance of entertainment and engagement in the adoption of social robots in the service industry. However, it is unclear whether the SERVQUAL dimensions are appropriate to measure social robots’ service quality. This master’s project will conceptualise the SERVBOT model to assess a social robot’s service quality. It identifies reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and entertainment as the five dimensions of SERVBOT. Further, the research will investigate how these five factors influence emotional and social engagement and intention to use the social robot in a concierge service setting. To conduct the research, a 2 x 1 (CONTROL vs SERVBOT) x (Concierge) between-subject experiment was undertaken and a total of 232 responses were collected for both stages. The results indicate that entertainment has a positive influence on emotional engagement when service is delivered by a human concierge. Further, assurance had a positive influence on social engagement when a human concierge provided the service. When a social robot concierge delivered the service, empathy and entertainment both influenced emotional engagement, and assurance and entertainment impacted social engagement favourably. For both CONTROL (human concierge) and SERVBOT (social robot concierge), emotional and social engagement had a significant influence on intentions to use. This study is the first to propose the SERVBOT model to measure social robots’ service quality. The model provides a theoretical underpinning on the key service quality dimensions of a social robot and gives scholars and managers a method to track the service quality of a social robot. The study also extends the literature by exploring the key factors that influence the use of social robots (i.e., emotional and social engagement)

Sustainable Value Co-Creation in Welfare Service Ecosystems : Transforming temporary collaboration projects into permanent resource integration

The aim of this paper is to discuss the unexploited forces of user-orientation and shared responsibility to promote sustainable value co-creation during service innovation projects in welfare service ecosystems. The framework is based on the theoretical field of public service logic (PSL) and our thesis is that service innovation seriously requires a user-oriented approach, and that such an approach enables resource integration based on the service-user’s needs and lifeworld. In our findings, we identify prerequisites and opportunities of collaborative service innovation projects in order to transform these projects into sustainable resource integration once they have ended

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021

This open access book is the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 28th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER21@yourplace virtual conference January 19–22, 2021. This book advances the current knowledge base of information and communication technologies and tourism in the areas of social media and sharing economy, technology including AI-driven technologies, research related to destination management and innovations, COVID-19 repercussions, and others. Readers will find a wealth of state-of-the-art insights, ideas, and case studies on how information and communication technologies can be applied in travel and tourism as we encounter new opportunities and challenges in an unpredictable world