Selecting Robots to Take Over Tasks in Hospitality Settings: Joining Two Research Fields

Robotic assistance for work processes in the hospitality industry is receiving increased attention both in the hospitality industry and in academic research. Unfortunately, academic literature about hospitality robotics is currently disjointed, making it hard for hospitality professionals to decide which processes to target, and which available robotic systems would result in benefits (or limitations) for the organisation, employees or guests. Similarly, it is hard to understand what robotic functionalities need to be developed for particular processes, or what future functionalities to expect from ongoing developments in the robotics field. Researching hospitality robotics requires expertise in both fields. With this chapter, we try to give an insight in the things that should be considered when designing and evaluating the effectiveness of robots in a hospitality work environment. We do this by illustrating how robots can influence many interactions in a work environment and we present a conceptual framework for mapping these different interactions.