Social Media Comments about Hotel Robots

ABSTRACT

The Henn-na Hotel in Japan has employed robots for its operations since 2015. In January 2019, the hotel announced it had fired half its robotic workforce. This news generated many comments on social media. The purpose of this study is to analyze the comments to inform researchers and practitioners about people’s reactions to this news. Based on topic modeling techniques, the results show the comments focus on three topics: (1) The difficulty of using robots to replace human services, (2) The robot embodiment, and (3) The apprehension about job replacement. Reviews of the associated comments indicate there is skepticism about the robots’ abilities to replace human services. However, there is also apprehension about job losses when robots become more capable of taking over the jobs. With regards to the robot embodiment, there are low sentiments for the female humanoid at the front desk as it was perceived as ‘scary’ and ‘horrible’. The comments suggest the hotel to: (1) upgrade its technology, (2) improve the appearance of the female robot, and (3) address people’s concerns regarding job losses. The study discusses the implications of the results.

摘要

从2015年起, 日本的海茵娜酒店就开始使用机器人进行运营。2019年1月, 酒店宣布解雇了一半的机器人员工。这新闻在社交媒体上引起了许多评论。本研究的目的是通过对相关评论的分析使研究人员和酒店从业者了解人们对这一新闻的反应。基于主题模型技术, 结果显示, 评论集中在三个主题上:(1)使用机器人代替人类服务的困难, (2)机器人的呈现形式, 及(3)对工作被取代的担忧。 回顾相关的评论表明, 人们对机器人取代人类服务的能力持怀疑态度。然而, 也有人担心, 当机器人在未来变得更有能力接管工作时, 人类便会失业。关于机器人的呈现形式, 评论的感情显示低落, 因为前台放置的女性人形机器被认为是恐怖和吓人。评论表示酒店应:(1)升级其技术, (2)改善女性机器人的外观, 以及 (3)解决人们对失业的担忧。该研究讨论了结果的含义。

KEYWORDS:

• Henn-na Hotel
• hotel robot
• robotics
• sentiment analysis
• service robot

关键词:

• 海茵娜酒店
• 酒店机器人
• 机器人学
• 情感分析
• 服务机器人

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universityof Macau [MYRG 2018-00118-FBA].

Notes on contributors

Hio Nam Io

Hio Nam Io is Ph.D. Candidate in the Faculty of Business Administration at University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include human-robot interactions, social media mining and e-commerce technology (E-mail: [email protected]).

Chang Boon Lee

Chang Boon Lee is Associate Professor of Business Information Systems in the Faculty of Business Administration at University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include e-commerce management and applications of technology in the gaming and hospitality industry. (E-mail: [email protected]).