Creating Informative and Successful Human Robot Interaction in a Real-World Service Environment

This study explores how to best utilize service robots when deploying them in customer facing contexts for information requests. Many companies investing in such robots unfortunately fail to integrate them successfully in a way where they facilitate meaningful interactions with users. Copenhagen Visitor Service is one of those companies who have tried to integrate a Pepper robot into their service environment but failed due to several factors relating to both the environment, the robot and lack of a strategical implementation. Through an exploratory field study with in-situ feedback from the participants, it became evident that the robot in this specific setting needed a more focused purpose and an interaction flow that was not reliant on verbal communication. A prototype was developed consisting of an informative quiz targeting families. A subsequent field deployment demonstrated a better and more meaningful user experience, indicating that careful consideration of the use context is paramount for a successful integration as well as a strategical implementation.