Wandering the halls of Hong Kong’s Cyberport innovation hub, little Rice Robot is on a mission. The small, stubby white cube resembles the R2D2 robot from Star Wars in shape, but its wide eyes look like Pixar’s WALL-E. The robot is delivering drinks to HFT Life cafe customers through a compartment in its “head”, which is unlocked by the customer with a code sent to their cell phone.
While Rice’s operations at this cafe are limited to beverage distribution, the compact robot already provides a variety of services at other locations in Hong Kong and Japan. The robot is a porter at Hong Kong’s Dorsett Wanchai hotel, and offers room service to guests. In Tokyo, he delivers snacks to employees at SoftBank Group headquarters, straight from the 7-Eleven convenience store located in the building. Earlier this year, Rice made her television debut on the Cantonese series Communion, where she delivered coffee to a cast member.
In addition, Rice is part of a new generation of intelligent robots capable of moving around complex and busy environments, including elevators. Equipped with light sensors, depth cameras and ultrasound sensors to avoid obstacles, Rice can maneuver freely in hotels and multi-story shopping malls, said Viktor Lee, founder and CEO of Rice Robotics.
Describing Rice as “the friendly robot of the neighbourhood,” Lee hopes it can help the hospitality industry combat a labor shortage as the population ages, while also meeting a post-pandemic demand for greater hygiene protocols.
“Even after Covid, people are paying close attention to ways of contact,” Lee said. He believes that “this type of delivery robot will see steady growth over the next five to ten years.”
The post-pandemic robotic boom
With a background in logistics, Lee founded Rice Robotics in 2019 to solve the challenge of “last mile deliveries”.
With support from the Cyberport Incubation Program, Lee and his team developed Rice, the first of their three robots. Designed for the delivery of goods, it can be used in areas such as healthcare, retail, logistics and hospitality.
The pandemic has created new demand for service robots, with that market growing by 12% in 2020, according to the International Federation of Robotics. That opened up a new front for Rice: quarantine hotel butler. In Hong Kong, stringent regulations have quarantined travelers for up to three weeks, and hotels have had to find new ways to minimize people-to-people contact and avoid cross-contamination.
The Dorsett Wanchai hotel started using Rice robots in June 2021. “It’s a great way to serve our guests and follow our standards of service while maintaining social distancing and protective measures,” commented General Manager Anita Chan, adding that guest feedback has been positive: “Rice Robot looks cute and kids love it”.
Lee also said that during the pandemic, customers started asking about cleaning robots. His team responded by developing a second robot in just eight weeks. By replacing Rice’s delivery compartment with an antiseptic solution tank, Jasmine has two spray nozzles to apply the disinfectant.
The company created a new personality for Jasmine – which has already been implemented in malls, event centers and airports – by giving her cartoon eyebrows that frown into a more serious expression. “She has to sanitize the whole place, and she doesn’t want anyone to get in the way,” Lee said.
The team’s third product, Portal, is a taller robot with touch screen, intercom and streaming cameras for surveillance of public areas. In addition to making deliveries, the Portal can guide visitors in places such as shopping malls, event centers and hospitals.
hospitable robots
While industrial robots are common in the automotive, electronics and production sectors, until more recently most service robots in the hospitality field were used only for new purposes.
But the pandemic has changed that, explained Kaye Chon, dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Because of social and travel restrictions, “there has been an exodus of employees in our industry,” Chon said. Along with health concerns and a growing acceptance of smart technology by younger customers, Chon sees robotics as the next step in the “digital transformation” of the hospitality industry.
However, the technology still needs to overcome some obstacles to achieve the same efficiency as industrial robots. Costs are still high for this technology – Rice Robotics products cost US$ 9,000 a unit (about R$ 46,500 at current prices) – and malls, hotels and restaurants need to be adapted to be more user-friendly. robots, Chon added.
Employees also need to know how to program robots, a skill set that is lacking in the industry. To remedy that, Chon helped craft a new “smart tourism” curriculum that spans artificial intelligence, robotics and big data, but said it will take time for today’s students to enter the workforce. “This is how our industry is evolving,” he added.
Rice Robotics created a fleet management application for users as well as helping customers make infrastructure changes such as programming robots and elevator systems to communicate with each other. The startup also offers its robots through a monthly subscription service starting at US$800 a unit (about R$4,200), which includes technical and on-site support.
And while robots can help minimize people-to-people contact, they still need to be sanitized by staff between uses, Chon mentioned.
Chon sees a huge opportunity for robots to perform simple, repetitive tasks in budget and mid-range hotels — but the technology is still a long way from replicating the “little personal touches” that high-end luxury properties offer, he added.
rapid expansion
Rice Robotics is not the only player in the world of service robots. The Danish company UVD Robots supplies robotic butlers for the Yotel hotel in Boston, United States. US-based Relay Robotics (formerly Savioke) has been creating hotel delivery robots since 2013, and Richtech Robotics’ Matradee robot assists human waiters by being an autonomous serving tray.
However, Rice’s “pretty little face” adds to its appeal — and it’s an intentional part of the design, Lee revealed. Studies have found that human-like features increase affinity for robots, making Rice’s aesthetic a key part of its effectiveness in the hospitality industry for brands hoping to make a good impression on their customers.
Rice Robotics has grown rapidly during the pandemic, from a team of three in 2019 to 26. Now based in Hong Kong’s Science and Technology Park, the company opened an office in Japan in 2021 to help manage its growing customer base in the country. With a rapidly aging population, Lee said robots are essential to supporting Japan’s retail and hospitality industries.
In addition to hospitality, Lee sees robots becoming more common in our homes as well. In a recent project with Japan’s postal service, several Rice units were implemented in one building to help deliver mail to residents.
“Robots aren’t taking people’s jobs, they’re trying to help keep society moving,” Lee claimed, adding, “Robots are the future.”
Source: CNN Brasil
