Questions and answers about social robots

1. What is a social robot? 

In the late 1860s, robots were first mentioned in literature and in films. As a result of being depicted with unrealistic intelligence, this has caused concern among society, but we assure you that social robots should only pique your curiosity. A social robot is a robot that is developed to communicate and interact with people, regardless of whether they are patients, customers or business partners. The interaction between the two takes place verbal (the robot gives an answer to the question asked or delivers a presentation), tactile (the application available on the robot's tablet offers the possibility to navigate and select a category/menu of interest to the user), and depending on the complexity of the social robots, they can support verbal communication through gestures and movements triggered in accordance with the information transmitted, but also depending on the sensors it is equipped with.

2. What can it do? How can it help me in the company's activity? 

You should know that a social robot can help you in the company's daily activities, especially in the secretarial departments, reception, customer relations, HR (Human Resources), CSR projects, but also in other activities that involve interaction in a physical space with patients, customers, employees or business partners.

Depending on the business of the company you represent, we custom develop an Android application to support the needs identified in the current business, so that the social robot integrated into the organization helps to streamline repetitive communication tasks, increase customer loyalty, educate customers to familiarize themselves with the products and services offered, guide and provide orientation information within the company location and integration with the beneficiary's own software solutions

Here are just a few ideas of roles that a social robot can fulfill in your company:

• Sales Consultant presenting services or product catalogs, continuing a purchase process started online, or making personalized recommendations in stores and showrooms. And at the same time, it collects data about every interaction, for a deeper knowledge of customers.
• Educational Assistant promotes organizational culture to new employees, supports and informs or helps create an interactive and unique educational experience for students and pupils of all ages.

• Host and attendant in the waiting areas, so that waiting time turns into an interactive, educational and fun experience with your brand.

• Receptionist with tasks such as active greeting of guests, facial recognition, general information and interactive presentations about the company's products/services

• Telepresence at events/conferences in the case of participants who do not have the opportunity to physically travel to the location of the event, they can assist in the event, the robot facilitating the participant and the opportunity to communicate with other participants physically present in the event

We remind you that these are only some of the roles that a social robot can fulfill in your organization, and the implementation of social robots in organizations is carried out based on the needs of the current activity.

3. What does the development of a project involve?

Developing and implementing a social robot in an organization primarily involves two components: hardware and software.

The Hardware Component is actually the actual social robot that you can choose from the portfolio we make available.

The most well-known and popular social robot is Pepper because through appearance, gestures and empathy, it offers a surprising experience for the interlocutor.

The software component is not configured by the manufacturer, as we at IRIS Robotics take care of its development and implementation on the chosen social robot.

After choosing the social robot, we develop a custom Android app for each organization so that the chosen features meet the needs of each organization. Through a catalog, the software functions available for the chosen robot can be analyzed to create a suitable configuration, with the possibility of implementing other software functions and integrations that are not presented in the catalog.

The implementation of the project starts only after the definition of the two components, and the development of the application takes from 2 weeks to several months depending on the configuration of the application.

4. How do you customize the bot for my activity? 

The social robot is customized for each individual organization through the application that we develop to order within each project. In this way we ensure that each application developed is unique and supports the needs and objectives of the beneficiary organization. In the case of configuring an application for a medical clinic, we can choose the following functions:

1. Meet and Greet - to detect interlocutors from a distance of 2m, maintain eye contact and greet them with a personalized message when they arrive at the reception
2. Interactive Presenter App - to present to patients the available specialties, the treatments and procedures that can be performed, the specialized medical personnel both verbally through personalized messages, visually on the touch tablet of the social robot, as well as gestures
3. FAQ - to support the reception staff, the robot answers the most frequently asked questions by patients, which are stored in a dedicated database of the robot
4. Satisfaction survey - in order to evaluate the satisfaction of patients who perform treatments in the clinic, the robot will have available in the application menu a feedback section to which it will encourage patients to evaluate the entire experience in the clinic
5. Orientation map & Navigation - to help guide patients within the clinic and lead them to the medical staff's offices without other support from reception staff
6. See and listen game - in order to contribute to the continuous education and information of patients, we develop interactive games through which they can more easily understand the procedures and treatments carried out in the clinic
7. Selfie - we know that meeting a patient with a social robot is truly an experience, so the robot is prepared with several photo positions to be immortalized with patients

In the case of other industries, starting from the previous example we will configure together the application we will develop for the social robot.

5. How and in what languages can social robots communicate? 

Within the software configuration chosen by each organization, we have the possibility to customize including the robot voice, which is used for all the information communicated to the interlocutors.

Social robot manufacturers generally support all widely used international languages that are supported by smart devices, for example English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and others.

For the first time in Romania, we developed a Romanian language module, so that all interlocutors can communicate much more easily with social robots. In 2020, we implemented this module for the first time in the application developed for the Unident chain of premium dental clinics, which implemented 4 Pepper social robots in the receptions.

As a result of this first, we can currently develop custom applications in Romanian, in all languages supported by manufacturers, and for other new projects we can develop a dedicated module for other languages that are not supported.

6. What are the warranty conditions and what other services do you offer? 

The social robots in our portfolio come with the manufacturer's warranty, with the period shown on each product page. On top of this, consumers have the 24-month statutory warranty. Legal entities have a 12-month IRIS commercial warranty. For Pepper we diagnose and repair hardware faults at our service centre in Iași, and for the other robots we take the request and pass it on to the manufacturer or to Clinica Roboților. The Warranty of the software application developed by us is provided by three services included free of charge during the first 24 months from the final delivery of the application, and by subscription after that period:

• Technical support - provided by means of remote communication based on a predetermined schedule to resolve technical difficulties encountered with the application. A consultant will contact the beneficiary to offer recommendations and advice in solving the difficulties encountered.
• Maintenance - is necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the software component in accordance with the constant changes made by the suppliers for the tools we use. Through their constant monitoring and verification, we ensure the optimal functioning of the developed application.
• Software updates - provide for the optimization of the developed software by improving the response speed and updating to new versions of the applications, depending on the new improvements made to the previously implemented functions.

7. What is the share of hardware and software in the project?

The costs of social robots differ depending on the complexity of the hardware developed by the manufacturer. The higher the level of hardware complexity of the robot, the more the possibilities of developing complex software functions increase.

The hardware cost of a robot is a fixed cost in the development of a project, while the software development cost is a cost that varies according to the needs of the beneficiary organization. Thus, after choosing a social robot model from the portfolio, it is necessary to configure the application for the robot, the latter being at least equal to or greater than the cost of the hardware.

Why? 

Hardware without software is hardware that can't do anything. The only added value within the implementation of a social robot is given by the software application that we make to order for each individual organization.

8. What do I need to know to use such a robot? Do I need a dedicated and trained supervisor?

When handing over the project, we organize a training session for the managers from the beneficiaries so that they get to know the social robot better, understand it and provide support to the organization for the proper functioning of the robot. It is recommended that each beneficiary organization has a person in charge, and we take care of their training and familiarization with the robot. Certainly understanding technologies in general will help, but it is not an indispensable condition. Our colleagues will be with the person in charge, so that whenever clarifications are needed, they can very easily address them to us.

9. How much do social robots cost?

The cost of a social robot depends on the model you choose and on the application developed for it. Robot prices are shown on their product pages, and for the custom application we prepare a personalized quote once we agree on the functions you need.

We at IRIS Robotics develop the software applications necessary for the exploitation of humanoid robots in various deployment scenarios, according to the needs of each organization.

That's why we are happy to see more and more diverse needs from our customers, and to take on the challenge of turning them into reality.

If you want to implement a social robot in your organization, or are wondering what the possibilities would be, we invite you to write to us using the contact form below to set up an initial discussion.

FREE CONSULTATION.

See also success stories with social robots implemented in Romanian companies:

Pepper Robot at the International Theater Festival Unident has integrated Humanoid Robots within every Premium Dental Clinic it owns

Want to have Pepper with you at your next event? Talk to a consultant

Book now