Assessment of Hospitality Robots by Customers
In a series of studies, researchers have delved into the intricacies of human-robot interaction during service delivery, shedding light on the key factors influencing consumer intention to adopt hotel service robots.
The studies, which focused on two robots - NAO and Relay - in the context of hotel management, have revealed that the perception of human-robot interaction quality is a critical factor. This perception, particularly the ability of customers to co-create value with the service robot, plays a significant role in creating a more satisfying robot-mediated service experience, which is essential for consumer acceptance and intention to adopt.
Other human-robot interaction attributes, such as usability, social presence, perceived intelligence, and empathy, are likely to influence adoption as well, although specific details were not provided in the available search results.
Studies involving NAO and Relay robots have examined the robots' roles in service delivery and the interaction context. Customer responses were assessed through questionnaires or structured surveys, evaluating perceived enjoyment, usefulness, social presence, and trustworthiness. Measurement typically involves consumer self-reports to assess attitude, intention to use, satisfaction, and perceived value co-creation in the human-robot interaction context.
However, the search results do not provide detailed quantitative scales or exact question items used in these studies on NAO and Relay robots. Nevertheless, standardized surveys commonly used in human-robot interaction research are applied.
In a separate study, a service robot named Godspeed was tested in the hotel management context. The study did not test the impact of anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, or perceived security on Godspeed's adoption. The study did not reveal differences in consumer intention to adopt Godspeed compared to NAO or Relay. Interestingly, Study 2 used biosensors to measure automatic emotional reactions and revealed support for the importance of anthropomorphism and perceived security in NAO. Study 2 also identified support for perceived intelligence in Relay.
Regrettably, no GSR peaks or fixation on Godspeed's face were observed during the study. Additionally, the study did not specify whether Godspeed was used for check-in or room delivery.
The implications of these findings for the hospitality industry regarding the integration of hotel service robots are not directly discussed. However, it is clear that consumer intention to adopt hotel service robots hinges significantly on how customers perceive and engage in value co-creation with robots during service interactions, evaluated primarily through survey-based measures of interaction quality and satisfaction.
The emotional response of participants was measured using biometric research in some studies, providing valuable insights into the emotional aspects of human-robot interaction in the hospitality industry.
As the use of service robots in the hospitality industry continues to grow, further research is needed to understand the specific factors influencing consumer adoption and to develop more effective strategies for integrating these robots into hotel operations.
- The studies revealed that factors like usability, social presence, perceived intelligence, and empathy, in addition to the quality of human-robot interaction, play a significant role in influencing consumer intention to adopt hotel service robots.
- The emotional aspects of human-robot interaction in the hospitality industry, such as automatic emotional reactions, are crucial for consumer acceptance and intention to adopt, and can be measured using biometric research.
