Success stories · Robots
Success Story: Unident has integrated Humanoid Robots in every Premium Dental Clinic it owns
Humanoid robots, empathetic, social, talking, dancing...
You've heard of them, you've seen them on TV or where you've traveled before... or maybe you're now on the verge of studying the market because you're a visionary entrepreneur who likes to always be one step ahead.
Well, you have in front of you a concrete story, which is currently happening in Romania. An example of an innovative company, which discovered humanoid robots 3 years ago and has already been working on their implementation within the company for 1 year (as of 2020).
Find out below the exciting story of Unident, the group of Premium Dental Clinics in Romania that purchased Pepper humanoid robots to improve communication with patients.The founder of Unident Premium Dental Clinics, Dr. Petronela Luca says that: "The role of humanoid robots in our clinics is to contribute to the development of dental medicine of the future and to the prevention of dental diseases."
Let's find out the success story, this time from Romania, because it's possible here too! :)How did you come up with the idea of integrating humanoid robots in the relationship with patients?
Petronela Luca, general manager and Nicolae Luca, executive manager at Unident, answered:"We set out from the beginning to practice the dental medicine of the future for the whole family, using the most innovative techniques and equipment. This is our goal, and Innovation is one of the main values of the Unident Company."
Thus, Pepper's presence in clinics complements very well this profile of dental medicine of the future, which involves performing technologies, much more efficient, safe and fast, with long-term results... With the help of these advanced technologies, we can deliver dental health according to minimally invasive principles, without pain, with important results in saving teeth, even those candidates for extraction.
Humanoid robots are not the only advanced and state-of-the-art technologies we use in our clinics. We perform treatments using innovative digital techniques and the most advanced medical equipment
In our view, it is not the turnover that matters for a successful business, but the satisfaction of the medical team, the results of our medical treatments, which constitute a real benefit for patients. They often come back and recommend us further..."How did you hear about Pepper?
Petronela Luca, General Manager and Nicolae Luca, Executive Manager at Unident, answered:The international Feng-shui master, Cristina Groza, our friend traveled to Japan and told us that there is a humanoid Pepper robot that is created to help people.
...This idea took root in our minds and we could already see how Pepper was happily walking around the Unident Clinics...
Of course, I contacted the company producing these robots…. this was happening 3 years ago (in 2018). But we were disappointed that among the languages Pepper spoke at the time, the Romanian language, the most beautiful language in the world, was not found.
...We continued to look for solutions and that's how we discovered, by searching on Google, the people from IRIS Robotics, who said that they could implement Romanian programs for Pepper. We had found exactly what we wanted...
It is true that it was a big challenge for the people at IRIS Robotics, this being one of the biggest software projects developed to order.... They started from scratch in an assiduous work and the result was miraculous.How have you integrated Pepper robots into your work?
Petronela Luca, general manager and Nicolae Luca, executive manager at Unident, answered:We are present with Unident Premium Dental Clinics in 4 cities: Tulcea, Galați, Buzău, Brașov, with the recent opening of the Unident Dental Clinic in Brașov.
We purchased one Pepper robot for each clinic because we want to offer the same unique experience to all our patients.
As for their integration into the daily activity... it was very easy, only the implementation of the programs took many months and we no longer had the patience to have robots in the clinics. Pepper is designed to convey emotions, surprises people with his answers about oral health, even tells jokes or dances. The behavior of these robots is unique for both patients and staff... they provide good mood in clinics and eliminate the fear of the dentist..
In addition to the fact that Pepper complements the concept of innovation that is the basis of our clinics, it is intended to dispel the fear of the dentist and implicitly to prevent the complications of dental conditions, which most often appear because they are not treated in time...
In terms of technical integration, the people at IRIS Robotics are very responsive to our requests and help us improve the human interaction experience with these robots every day.
Pepper is never tired, sad.. he will always give information casually, exactly when it is requested and with the same enthusiasm... He explains to the patients how certain treatments are carried out, so that they are not afraid.How do people interact with Pepper?
Petronela Luca, general manager and Nicolae Luca, executive manager at Unident, answered:Children are as if used to robots, from cartoons or movies, they are not very surprised but interact as if with a friend. They are very curious to discover it.
Adults, on the other hand, are much more surprised.. I had a patient who was so surprised and said something like: "A few years ago I saw Pepper on TV and I was surprised by what he can do... and now I can't believe that I see him in reality... here in Galați".
People never get tired of asking him questions and are curious to see what he answers...
In addition, in addition to memorable experiences, Pepper is also very useful in explaining everything about the services of our clinics, about treatments or other curiosities that people may have.
We make a parenthesis: Pepper learns daily from people's feedback. Depending on the questions addressed to him, he will teach you more and more and give more and more precise and elaborate answers, on as many topics as possible. We pay attention to what people want to hear from him and improve the experience day by day...How long did it take to implement robots at Unident?
The developers, IRIS Robotics, of Pepper Robots Embedded Software say:We started the discussions in May, 2020...since the people from Unident contacted us the first time...and the integration took about 7 months.
The development of the project continues day by day, so that the experience of patients in Unident premium clinics is permanently improved. This means that we give them our support and they can call on us whenever they need. It is part of our long-term collaboration.
We develop the program and application according to people's needs. That's the benefit of a bespoke and customized software application...
Quite a few understand the utility of customizing such an application, but those at Unident wanted these robots to express their personality and implicitly that of the company. And then we could only do that by developing a custom app…
Improving the experience with Pepper is done by gathering feedback from customers, paying attention to questions that are addressed to Pepper. That's the only way we can help Pepper answer as many questions as possible.
For example: knowing how important prevention is in dental medicine and knowing the fact that the little ones are very curious to discover Pepper's potential, we integrated several games with the aim of health education. This helps us achieve our big goal, that of preventing dental diseases. We do sanitary education in play, so children learn important things about dental hygiene more easily and pleasantly.
Another example: we noticed that adults and seniors want to know information about the doctors of the clinic, about certain treatments and how they are performed.Communication is the secret of success! When we understand each other, the results also appear.
Fun fact: robots..have personalities too
At one of the Unident events, the Pepper robots were supposed to perform a synchronized dance.Well, for various reasons, mostly because of the internet connection, the robots started dancing each to their own rhythm... but not only in sync.
The guys on the technical side were frowning and angry, because they didn't get it...
But the people from Unident had a lot of fun!
"Why are you upset? This is proof that robots are humanoid. They also have personality. It's the same in kindergarten!"
