Verification of the effectiveness of robots for sales promotion in commercial facilities

Abstract

Over the course of 4 years, we have conducted field operational tests by placing robots in commercial facilities to examine what services are possible and what are the issues faced in achieving practical use. As it stands now, we found great disparity between the user's perception of using robots and actual robot functions. Also, we found that there were issues with items such as the cost of achieving functions in line with user perception. Thus, it is necessary to examine services that are feasible given the limits of current technology, as well as verify and evaluate the services in an actual environment. Among the services we conducted, we focused on sales promotion services, which can clearly show costs and quantitative effects. The effectiveness was measured and evaluated. We present these results and observations. We also present guidelines for operation for practical application and contents of service to be implemented.