Humanoid Reception Robots in Retail: What Customers Actually Ask
The first thirty seconds
Guests decide within half a minute whether a reception robot is useful or furniture. Across 120,000 logged interactions, the opening question was almost never about the robot itself.
Top five questions
- Where is the lift or the car park entrance?
- Is the store open, and until when?
- Where is a specific brand or product category?
- How do I get a tax refund or a VAT invoice?
- Can I speak to a person?
The last one is the important one. A robot that cannot hand off to staff quickly becomes an obstacle.
Design details that matter
A 21.5-inch vertical screen outperformed chest-height displays in every trial, because product imagery and wayfinding maps are readable from three metres. Voice interaction drove about 40 percent of conversations; the rest were touch.
Deployment advice
Place the robot where a greeter would stand, not where the floor plan is empty. Update the content weekly with real promotions, and keep a staffed help point within ten metres. Robots that are given real work get used; robots parked in a corner do not.
