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Service Robots in the Hospitality Industry: An Exploratory Literature Review

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Exploring Service Science (IESS 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 377))

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Abstract

The service sector is changing drastically due the use of robotics and other technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), Big Data and Biometrics. Consequently, further research opportunities in the service industry domain are also expected. In light of the above, the purpose of this paper is to explore the potentialities and limitations of service robots in the hospitality industry. To this end, this paper uses a conceptual approach based on a literature review. As a result, we found that in contexts of high customer contact, service robots should be considered to perform standardized tasks due to social/emotional and cognitive/analytical complexity. The hospitality industry is therefore considered closely related to empathic intelligence, as the integration of service robots has not yet reached the desired stage of service delivery. In a seemingly far-fetched context of our reality, organizations will have to decide whether the AI will allow the complete replacement of humans with robots capable of performing the necessary cognitive and emotional tasks. Or investing in balanced capacities by integrating robot-human systems that seems a reasonable option these days.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Management Industrial Engineering and Tourism, GOVCOPP, Aveiro University, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ana Rosete, Barbara Soares, Juliana Salvadorinho, João Reis & Marlene Amorim

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  1. Ana Rosete
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  2. Barbara Soares
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  3. Juliana Salvadorinho
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  4. João Reis
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  5. Marlene Amorim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Reis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Henriqueta Nóvoa

  2. University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Monica Drăgoicea

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

    Niklas Kühl

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Rosete, A., Soares, B., Salvadorinho, J., Reis, J., Amorim, M. (2020). Service Robots in the Hospitality Industry: An Exploratory Literature Review. In: Nóvoa, H., Drăgoicea, M., Kühl, N. (eds) Exploring Service Science. IESS 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 377. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38724-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38724-2_13

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