Long-Term Assessment of a Service Robot in a Hotel Environment

Producción CientíficaThe long term evaluation of the Sacarino robot is presented in this paper. This study aimed to improve the robot`s capabilities as a bellboy in a hotel; walking alongside the guests, providing information about the city and the hotel and providing hotel-related services. The paper establishes a three-stage assessment methodology based on the continuous measurement of a set of metrics regard- ing navigation and interaction with guests. Sacarino has been automatically collecting information in a real hotel environment for long periods of time. The acquired information has been analyzed and used to improve the robot's opera- tion in the hotel through successive re nements. Some interesting considerations and useful hints for the researchers of service robots have been extracted from the analysis of the results.Junta de Castilla y León (Programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación-Ref. VA036U14)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA013A12-2)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Grant DPI2014-56500-R

A bellboy robot: Study of the effects of robot behaviour on user engagement and comfort

Producción CientíficaThis paper provides the results of various trial experiments in a hotel environment carried out using Sacarino, an interactive bellboy robot. We analysed which aspects of the robot design and behaviour are relevant in terms of user engagement and comfort when interacting with our social robot. The experiments carried out focused on the influence over proxemics, duration and effectiveness of the interaction taking into account three dichotomous factors related with the robot design and behaviour: robot embodiment (with/without robotic body), status of the robot (awake/asleep) and who starts communication (robot/user). Results show that users tend to maintain a personal distance when interacting with an embodied robot and that embodiment engages users in maintaining longer interactions. On the other hand, including a greeting model in a robot is useful in terms of engaging users to maintain longer interactions, and that an active-looking robot is more attractive to the participants, producing longer interactions than in the case of a passive-looking robot.Junta de Castilla y León (Programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación-Ref. VA036U14)Junta de Castilla y León (Programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación-Ref. VA013A12-2)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Grant DPI2014-56500-R

Sistema de interacción visual para un robot social

[Resumen] Una de las características de los robots sociales es que tengan expresividad y fluidez lo más cercana a la naturaleza humana. En este caso una de las mayores fuentes de expresividad son los rasgos faciales. Por otra parte, estamos acostumbrados a comunicarnos mirando a otras personas a la cara por lo que desarrollar robots con expresividad, capacidad gestual y de seguimiento facial es una de las características buscadas en el desarrollo de robots sociales. El presente artículo describe el desarrollo de un sistema de interacción hombre-máquina para un robot móvil social constituido por dos subsistemas o módulos. El primer subsistema se encarga de la detección del interlocutor y su seguimiento facial. Para ello realiza una detección inicial a partir de la información suministrada por el láser de navegación del robot, para posteriormente fijar la atención a partir de la información obtenida con una cámara de rango tipo Kinect. El segundo subsistema de encarga de la generación de gestos del robot. Para ello se ha adoptado el estándar FACS (Facial Action Coding System) lo cual permite su utilización en diferentes tipos de robots. La generación de expresiones se realiza mediante la combinación del movimiento controlado de cuello, párpados y ojos, con gestos mostrados en un display luminoso en la boca del robot.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; DPI2014-5650

Hotel customers’ behavioral intentions toward service robots: the role of utilitarian and hedonic values

This study aims to investigate the effects of hotel customers’ perceived utilitarian and hedonic values on their intention to use service robots. In addition, the influences of innovativeness, ease of use and compatibility on hotel customers’ perceived utilitarian and hedonic values were examined. Design/methodology/approach – The data of the current study was collected from 11 countries including the USA, UK, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Japan, Israel, India, Greece, Canada and Brazil. A structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses. Findings – The results indicated that hotel customers’ intention to use service robots was positively influenced by their utilitarian and hedonic value perceptions. In addition, customers’ perceptions of robots’ ease of use and compatibility had a positive impact on their perceived utilitarian and hedonic values. Originality/value – The findings of the current study provide unique contributions in the context of hospitality robotics technology adoption literature. In addition, this study provides valuable insights and novel opportunities for hospitality decision-makers to capitalize on, as they strive to strategize the integration of robot-based services into their operations.2022-2

EVALUACIÓN DE LOS ATRIBUTOS DE LOS CHATBOTS QUE SON MÁS EFECTIVOS EN LA INTERACCIÓN CON EL TURISTA: ESTUDIO DE CASO DEL CHATBOT “VICTORIA LA MALAGUEÑA”

Chatbots are transforming tourism communication and have been quickly adopted in the tourism industry. But despite its implementation in the sector, there are no studies that analyze the effectiveness of its use in the organization of trips. For this reason, this study measures the tourists’ perceptions during the use of the chatbot "Victoria la Malagueña" through the attributes: informatividad, empathy, accessibility and interactivity. In data processing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used. The findings suggest that informatividad and empathy are the chatbot attributes most valued by users.Los chatbots están transformado la comunicación turística y han tenido una rápida adopción en la industria del turismo. Pero a pesar de su implementación en el sector, no hay estudios que analicen la efectividad de su uso en la organización de viajes. Por ello, este estudio mide la percepción del turista durante el uso del chatbot “Victoria la Malagueña” a través de los atributos: informatividad, empatía, accesibilidad e interactividad. En el procesamiento de datos se utilizó el análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio. Los hallazgos sugieren que la informatividad y empatía son los atributos del chatbot más valorado por los usuarios

Sobi: An Interactive Social Service Robot for Long-Term Autonomy in Open Environments

Long-term autonomy in service robotics is a current research topic, especially for dynamic, large-scale environments that change over time. We present Sobi, a mobile service robot developed as an interactive guide for open environments, such as public places with indoor and outdoor areas. The robot will serve as a platform for environmental modeling and human-robot interaction. Its main hardware and software components, which we freely license as a documented open source project, are presented. Another key focus is Sobi’s monitoring system for long-term autonomy, which restores system components in a targeted manner in order to extend the total system lifetime without unplanned intervention. We demonstrate first results of the long-term autonomous capabilities in a 16-day indoor deployment, in which the robot patrols a total of 66.6 km with an average of 5.5 hours of travel time per weekday, charging autonomously in between. In a user study with 12 participants, we evaluate the appearance and usability of the user interface, which allows users to interactively query information about the environment and directions.© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works