Service Robot Pilots

Scope the pilot around one guest moment

Pick one moment in the customer's visit where you believe a robot helps, such as greeting at the door, giving directions in a mall or carrying orders to tables, and keep the pilot to that. Write the hypothesis down in one sentence, for example that the robot will answer routine directions so the concierge can spend longer with guests who need advice. Measure the current situation for a couple of weeks before the robot arrives, so you have a baseline to compare against. Agree in advance what result would lead you to expand, adjust or stop, and who makes that call. A pilot without a decision rule agreed at the start tends to drift on until enthusiasm fades and nobody can say whether it worked.

Involve the staff who will work beside it

A 2026 study of Norwegian restaurants in Frontiers in Robotics and AI concluded that decisions about how a robot moves should be made by the people working with it, and described the supplier adjusting routes and messages from staff feedback over the first days of live use. Build that into your plan. Choose a small group of front-line volunteers, give them time in the rota to learn the robot, and let them set its stops and phrases. ISO 9241-210:2019 describes human-centred design as a cycle of understanding the context of use, specifying requirements, producing designs and evaluating them with users, which suits a pilot well. Tell the wider team honestly what the trial is for and what it is not for.

Measures that tell you something real

Count what the robot completed, what it handed to staff, and how often someone had to rescue it from a stuck position or a wrong answer. Log the questions it could not answer, since they show where your content needs work. Gather short guest feedback at the point of service and staff comments at the end of each shift. Compare like with like: a Saturday with the robot against a Saturday without it, not against a quiet Tuesday. Watch for a novelty peak in the first week, when visitors try the robot for fun, and judge the pilot on the weeks that follow. Keep incidents, near misses and complaints in one log that the safety lead reviews every week.

Ending the pilot with a decision

Close the pilot on the date you set, even if it is going well, and review the results against the rule you agreed at the start. Share the findings with the staff who took part before anyone outside the team hears them. If you expand, plan for the work a single trial hides: content updates for new sites, training for every shift, spare units and a safety management system of the kind ISO 31101:2023 requires of organisations that provide services with robots. If you stop, agree how the robot is collected and how recordings and logs are deleted. Either way, write a short note on what you learned, because the next pilot will start from it.

Sources and further reading

• ISO 9241-210:2019 Ergonomics of human-system interaction – Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems — International Organization for Standardization.
  The human-centred design process for interactive systems, a sound frame for trials with staff and guests.
• Digital transformation in restaurants: key aspects of service robot deployment from project initiation to evaluation — Frontiers in Robotics and AI.
  Interview-based study of Norwegian restaurants that brought in service robots, followed from planning to evaluation.
• ISO 31101:2023 Robotics – Application services provided by service robots – Safety management systems requirements — International Organization for Standardization.
  Requirements for organisations that run robots in public-facing services, from airport guidance to hospital deliveries.

Common questions

Should customers know a robot is on trial?

Yes. A small sign saying the robot is being trialled sets expectations, invites feedback and makes mistakes easier to forgive. It also tells guests who would rather deal with a person where to find one, which protects the experience for everyone.

Who should run a service robot pilot day to day?

Name one owner on site, usually a duty or front-of-house manager, who can change the robot's settings, collect feedback and stop it when needed. Give that person a direct line to the supplier's support team for the length of the trial.