Restaurant Service Robots Development in Thailand and Their Real Environment Evaluation

Akkharaphong Eksiri; Tetsuya Kimura

doi:10.20965/jrm.2015.p0091

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JRM Vol.27 No.1 pp. 91-102

doi: 10.20965/jrm.2015.p0091

(2015)

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Restaurant Service Robots Development in Thailand and Their Real Environment Evaluation

Akkharaphong Eksiri and Tetsuya Kimura

Nagaoka University of Technology
1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan

Received:

July 18, 2014

Accepted:

December 4, 2014

Published:

February 20, 2015

Keywords:

service robot, real environment, experimental evaluation, safety, systematic design

Abstract

Developed restaurant robots

This paper describes our development of service robots evaluated in real restaurants. Our objective is to develop two types of robot for 1) taking orders from customers and 2) delivering an order to the table. This project is done in collaboration between Bangkok University and MK Restaurants Group Public Company Limited. To achieve this objective, we have applied simple technologies from our experiences at the robot competition called Robocon. We have evaluated each of our robots for six months in a real environment where five branches of the MK restaurant chain are located in the Bangkok area of Thailand, from 2009 to 2012. In the evaluation, robots provided 14,280 services and attracted the interest of 235,680 customers. “Lessons Learned” from this four-year project have been summarized, and should prove useful to similar service robot development projects.

Cite this article as:

A. Eksiri and T. Kimura, “Restaurant Service Robots Development in Thailand and Their Real Environment Evaluation,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.27 No.1, pp. 91-102, 2015.

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References

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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] VDMA, “World Robotics 2012 Service Robots,” International Federation of Robotics, August 2012.

[2] [2] “Panasonic to Unveil Innovative Communication Assistance Robots,” Int. Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition, Vol.38, September 2011.

[3] [3] H.-M. Gross, H. Boehme, C. Schroeter, S. Mueller, A. Koenig, E. Einhorn, C. Martin, M. Merten, and A. Bley, “TOOMAS: Interactive Shopping Guide Robots in Everyday Use -- Final Implementation and Experiences from Long-term Field Trials,” Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and System, pp. 2005-2012, 2009.

[4] [4] T. Wisspeintner, T. v. d. Zant, L. Iocchi, and S. Schiffer, “RoboCup@Home: Scientific Competition and Benchmarking for Domestic Service Robots,” Vol.10, No.3, pp. 392-426, 2009.

[5] [5] L. Iocchi, J. R.-d. Solar, and T. V. d. Zant, “Domestic Service Robots in the Real World,” J. of Intelligent & Robotics Systems, Vol.66, No.1-2, pp. 183-186, April 2012.

[6] [6] T. Sonoura, S. Tokura, T. Tasaki, F. Ozaki, and N. Matsuhira, “Reflective Collision Avoidance for Mobile Service Robot in Person Coexistence Environment,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.23, No.6, 2011.

[7] [7] M. Miitsuma and H. Hashimoto, “Observation of Human Activities Based on Spatial Memory in Intelligent Space,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.21, No.4, 2009.

[8] [8] G. Pahl, W. Beitz, J. Feldhusen, and K. Grote, “Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach,” Springer, 3 edition, 2007.

[9] [9] “International Standard ISO/FDIS 13482: Robots and robotic devices -- Safety requirements for personal care robots,” ISO, 2013.

[10] [10] K. Forsberg and H. Mooz, “System Engineering for Faster, Cheaper, Better,” Technical report, Center for Systems Management, 255 West Julian Street, Suite 100 San Jose, California, USA 95110, 1998.

[11] [11] J. R. Galbraith, “Matrix organization designs How to combine functional and project forms,” Business Horizons, Vol.14, No.1, pp. 29-40, February 1971.

[12] [12] T. Taira and N. Yamasaki, “Functionally Distributed Control Architecture for Autonomous Mobile Robots,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.16, No.2, pp. 217-224, 2004.

[13] [13] K. Okada, A. Fuyuno, T. Morishita, T. Ogura, Y. Ohkubo, Y. Kino, M. Inaba, and H. Inoue, “Device Distributed Approach to Expandable Robot System Using Intelligent Device with Super-Microprocessor,” J. of Robotics and Mechatronics, Vol.16, No.2, pp. 208-216, 2004.

[14] [14] J. Brooke, “SUS: a “quick and dirty” usability scale,” In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, A. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry, Taylor and Francis, London, 1996.