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The high cost of elder care combined with the shortage of caregivers lead us to consider how service robots can be affordably leveraged to support the independence of elders and the work of their caregivers and clinicians. Our objective is to gain design insight into tasks older adults desire to accomplish daily in a low-resource, assisted living setting and how an affordable service robot could suit. A need-finding design approach consisting of focus groups and surveys was completed with three stakeholders groups: Elders, Clinicians, and Caregivers. Stakeholders were asked to identify and then prioritize service tasks by importance and frustration. Thirty-six unique high priority tasks were identified. Instrumental activities of daily living, a desire to have their preferences known, leisure activities, and increased opportunities for socialization were the most important tasks that the elders wanted a low-cost mobile service robot to address. Clinicians and caregivers prioritized highly safety-related reminders and assistance in complying with care plans in assessment of elder task needs. Service robots exist that do some, but not all of these desired tasks. An effective and affordable service robot requires design trade-offs in terms of cost, preference and complexity. A low-cost robot targeting reminders, companion walking, hydration and fetching assistance was suggested as an initial prototype. Prototypes may address high priority desires of all stakeholders, but robots that can intervene and affect long-lasting changes in elder care are still needed.

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of service robots on hotel visitors' behaviour and to verify the role of anthropomorphism(human likeness) in customer satisfaction with robots.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 381 respondents was conducted, divided into three types of robots according to the level of anthropomorphism. The research model was thoroughly tested using the PLS-SEM method. Research model was tested thoroughly using the PLS-SEM method.FindingsThis study found that user satisfaction with service robots in a hotel had a positive impact on user satisfaction, attitude towards the hotel and room purchase intention. Moreover, our results showed that users were most likely to accept medium-human likeness robots and least likely to accept high–human likeness robots.Originality/valueThis study proposes influencing factors to be considered when researching hotel service robots, as well as practical suggestions for any hotel intending to use or currently using a service robot.

Global demographics trend toward an aging population. Hence, there will be an increased social demand for elderly care. Recently, assistive technologies such as service robots have emerged and can help older adults to live independently. This paper reports a review starting from 1999 of the existing mobile service robots used for older adults to grow old at home. We describe each robot from the viewpoint of applications, platforms, and empirical studies. Studies reported that mobile social robots could assist older adults throughout their daily activities such as reminding, household tasks, safety, or health monitoring. Moreover, some of the reported studies indicate that mobile service robots can enhance the well-being of older adults and decrease the workload for their caregivers.

In today’s competitive and globalized world, innovation is essential for organizational survival, offering a means for companies to address environmental impacts and social challenges. As innovation processes accelerate, managers need to rethink the entire value-creation chain, with digital transformation emerging as a continuous process of organizational adaptation to the evolving societal landscape. The research question focuses on how digital technologies—such as artificial intelligence, Big Data, cloud computing, industrial and service robots, and the Internet of Things—influence innovation-driven revenues among enterprises within the European Union (EU). The paper examines, using neural network analysis, the specific impact of each digital technology on innovation revenues while exploring how these technologies affect various types of social innovation within organizations. Through cluster analysis, the study identifies patterns among EU countries based on their digital technology adoption, innovation expenditures, and revenues and the proportion of enterprises engaged in innovation activities. The findings highlight the central role of digital technologies in enhancing innovation and competitiveness, with significant implications for managers and policymakers. These results underscore the necessity for companies to strategically integrate digital technologies to sustain long-term competitiveness in the rapidly evolving digital landscape of the EU.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the adoption of service robots in the hospitality industry and its impact on customer satisfaction. Key factors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, human-robot interaction, and service quality are investigated to understand the influence of automation on consumer experience. Methodology/Design/Approach – The mode of approach was quantitative survey-based, gathering feedback from hospitality customers who have interacted with service robots. The study was conducted in hospitality establishments in India, that have adopted the service robots. Regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship that the identified factors have with customer satisfaction. Findings – Results show that the perceived ease of use and service quality have significant impacts on customer satisfaction, and human-robot interaction plays a moderating role. Customers tend to perceive service robots favourably when they are efficient, seamless, and high-quality in their service. However, emotional and interactive elements are still a challenge for full acceptance. Originality of the research – This research extends the TAM and Service Quality Theory to the hospitality sector, with new insights into a customer’s perception of service robots. It contributes to academic literature by establishing a link between automation, service quality, and customer experience in a highly dynamic industry.

Research is currently being conducted on the use of robots as human labor support technology. In particular, the service industry needs to allocate more manpower, and it will be important for robots to support people. This study focuses on using a humanoid robot as a social service robot to convey information in a shopping mall, and the types of robot behaviors were analyzed. In order to convey the information, two processes must occur. Pedestrians must stop in front of the robot, and the robot must continue the engagement with them. For the purpose of this study, three types of autonomous robot behaviors were analyzed and compared in these processes in the experiment: greeting, in-trouble, dancing behaviors. After interactions were attempted with 5,000+ pedestrians, this study revealed that the in-trouble behavior can make pedestrians stop more and stay longer. In addition, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the robot in a real environment, the comparative results between three robot behaviors and human advertisers revealed that (1) the results of the greeting and dancing behavior are comparable to those of the humans, and (2) the performance of the in-trouble behavior in providing information tasks is higher than that of all human advertisers. These findings demonstrate that the performance of robots is comparable to that of humans in providing information tasks in a limited environment; therefore, it is expected that service robots as a labor support technology will be able to perform well in the real world.

Service robots are increasingly enhancing the quality of life across multiple sectors and personal domains. Recently, their use has broadened to include fence-free environments in areas such as restaurants, factories, delivery hubs, and hospitals. Evaluating the performance of these robots within each domain is crucial. It is vital to assess and determine the most suitable driving platform and application for each work environment. This study proposes a classification scheme for service robots in both industrial and personal settings released by 2023, focusing on their driving mechanisms. Initially, we categorize driving mechanisms into holonomic and non-holonomic methods. Subsequently, we classify service robots based on the driving platforms adopted and delve into their applications, strengths, and limitations. We then highlight the functionalities and performance metrics of a recently researched service robot. Through this study, we aim to present a clear classification and evaluation of service robots’ driving mechanisms. Our objective is to facilitate the development of more dependable robotic solutions.

Over the last two decades, several deployments of robots for in-house assistance of older adults have been trialled. However, these solutions are mostly prototypes and remain unused in real-life scenarios. In this work, we review the historical and current landscape of the field, to try and understand why robots have yet to succeed as personal assistants in daily life. Our analysis focuses on two complementary aspects: the capabilities of the physical platform and the logic of the deployment. The former analysis shows regularities in hardware configurations and functionalities, leading to the definition of a set of six application-level capabilities ( exploration , identification , remote control , communication , manipulation , and digital situatedness ). The latter focuses on the impact of robots on the daily life of users and categorises the deployment of robots for healthcare interventions using three types of services: support , mitigation , and response . Our investigation reveals that the value of healthcare interventions is limited by a stagnation of functionalities and a disconnection between the robotic platform and the design of the intervention. To address this issue, we propose a novel co-design toolkit, which uses an ecological framework for robot interventions in the healthcare domain. Our approach connects robot capabilities with known geriatric factors, to create a holistic view encompassing both the physical platform and the logic of the deployment. As a case study-based validation, we discuss the use of the toolkit in the pre-design of the robotic platform for an pilot intervention, part of the EU large-scale pilot of the EU H2020 GATEKEEPER project.

Soon service robots will be employed in public spaces with frequent human-robot interaction (HRI). To achieve a safe, trustworthy and acceptable HRI, service robots need to be equipped with interaction strategies suitable for the robot, user, and context. To gain realistic insights into the initial user reactions and challenges that arise when a mechanoid, autonomous service robot in public is applied, a field study with three data sources was conducted. In a first step, lay users’ intuitive reactions to a cleaning robot at a train station were observed ( N = 344 ). Second, passersby’s preferences for HRI interaction strategies were explored in interviews ( n = 54 ). As a third step, trust and acceptance of the robot were assessed with questionnaires ( n = 32 ). Identified challenges were social robot navigation in crowded places also applicable to vulnerable passersby, inclusive communication modalities, information of staff and public about the service robot application and the need for conflict resolution strategies to avoid an inefficient robot (e.g., testing behavior, path is blocked). This study provides insights into naive HRI in public and illustrates challenges, provides recommendations supported by literature and highlights aspects for future research to inspire a research agenda in the field of public HRI.

PurposeThis research proposes and examines a theoretical model grounded in anthropomorphism theory considering the curvilinear and linear relationships between service robot anthropomorphism and consumer usage intention and explores the mediating effect of perceived risk.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the developed model, two complementary studies are designed. In Study 1, multi-time data of 511 participants show that service robot anthropomorphism inverts U-shaped (curvilinear) relationship on consumer usage intention and perceived risk mediates this curvilinear relationship. In Study 2, multi-source data of 460 volunteers are used to confirm the findings of Study 1 and examine that consumer empathy moderates the complex nonlinear effect of service robot anthropomorphism on perceived risk, and the indirect curvilinear effect of service robot anthropomorphism on consumer usage intention through perceived risk.FindingsThis research provides preliminary and yet important findings on how service robot anthropomorphism most likely is positively associated with consumer usage intention, i.e. the positively influence mechanism of service robot anthropomorphism on consumer usage intention.Originality/valueThis research provides preliminary and yet important findings on how service robot anthropomorphism most likely is positively associated with consumer usage intention, i.e. the positively influence mechanism of service robot anthropomorphism on consumer usage intention.