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The impact of different types of service robots usage in hotels on guests’ intention to stay

The purpose of this study is to examine how consumers perceive the importance of using robot technologies for 12 services evaluated under two categories considering the technology acceptance model (TAM).To get more news about RaaS, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model analysis used structural equation modeling with the partial least squares estimation method, considering 638 responses.

Findings
The results revealed that the perceived importance (PI) of robotic service delivery tasks under “room division” and “food and beverage and secondary services” affect perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) differently. Besides, PEOU and PU significantly influence attitudes toward using robot-staffed hotels.

Research limitations/implications
The nonprobability convenience sampling method was used as the data collection method. Future studies that prefer probabilistic methods will open a different perspective for evaluating the results.

Practical implications
This study’s empirical findings reveal which robot-delivered services are found significant by the customers and contribute to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, it guides accurate demand and investment planning for the tourism and hospitality industry in the post-COVID-19 era.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, previous literature has not tested or confirmed the effects of PI related to two groups of robotic service delivery tasks on utilitarian variables. This study contributes to the literature by examining how different robotic service delivery tasks are linked to the TAM framework in a hotel setting.

Pandemic staffing challenges may be spurring the robot revolution

In a Mansfield warehouse the size of a football field, Gronk, Big Papi and Rocky Marciano carry stacks of boxes through massive aisles.To get more news about Robots on Demand, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

No, these are not the famed New England sports stars. They're a fleet of robots, named after them. The machines work for Top Notch Distributors, a wholesaler that sells items like bolts, locks and hinges.The company's employees voted on names for the robots after they were brought into the warehouse earlier this year.

Joseph Montville, who's worked at Top Notch for 26 years, said his job can be hard on the body. He used to push carts laden with heavy merchandise around the warehouse while searching for the items needed to make up orders. When his employer added the robots in January, he said it made a huge difference.

"Once we got these robots, it's less walking," Montville said. "I leave here at the end of an eight-hour day and my bones aren’t aching anymore."The robots, which go by the generic name Chuck, look like stacks of shelves on wheels. There's a small screen and buttons at the front that are used to operate them.

Chuck is the signature machine developed by Waltham-based 6 River Systems. When Jerome Dubois co-founded the company in 2015, he knew that warehouses were already moving toward more automation. But he couldn't have predicted how quickly demand for the company's robots would rise during a pandemic.

"The demand for labor in warehouses exploded," Dubois said. "There weren't enough people to meet that demand, so companies have been accelerating their implementation of technology to kind of bridge the gap."

Since the start of the pandemic, 6 River Systems has doubled its staff. Dubois predicts demand for its robots will keep growing. According to a McKinsey survey of leading retailers, 80% say they plan to invest more in automation in the next two to three years.Renting a fleet of eight Chuck robots starts at around $200,000 per year. Patrick Houlihan, the director of operations at Top Notch, said it's an investment the company had to make to keep growing in a tight labor market.

Management first introduced the robots in the company's Nevada warehouse in 2020 before implementing them in Mansfield two years later. Houlihan said the machines haven’t replaced any of the existing staff, but they have reduced the need to hire new employees.

"We've not had to add people as our business has grown," Houlihan said. "We've added technology to support that growth."Houlihan said the robots have also cut training time for new staff by about 90%. Now, associates can focus on learning about the products.

"People don't think door hardware is complex — it is complex." Houlihan said "It’s not just picking stuff off the shelf."

According to the nonprofit MassRobotics, Massachusetts has the highest concentration of robotics companies in the world at more than 400 businesses. This month, Boston Dynamics and Hyundai announced plans to build a $400 million robotics and artificial intelligence research center in Cambridge's Kendall Square.

The advances expected in this industry are likely to change the state's workforce, said Holly Yanco, a robotics professor at UMass Lowell and the director of the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) center, during a video call.

What is Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS)?

We’ve all heard of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and of course, the hardware needed for that software to work. But what happens when SaaS and complex hardware collide? To get more news about Robots on Demand, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) Defined
Imagine a fleet of flying robots designed to deliver blood to those in need in Rwanda. The drones operate on a cloud-based rental system, allowing doctors to use them on an ongoing basis. While this may sound like science fiction, it’s a real-life example of Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS).

Since this fleet of robots has been in operation, maternal mortality rates across Rwanda have dropped below the U.S’.

This life-saving venture is made possible thanks to RaaS: a business model that allows robotics companies to rent out their solutions to other companies on an ongoing basis. The renters benefit from this model because it:

It’d be wildly expensive and time-consuming if doctors had to purchase the flying robots rather than “hiring” them as needed. Plus, certain functions require the expertise of robotics engineers (i.e., adjusting to wind speed and direction, traveling to the correct coordinates, etc.).
In other words, when SaaS and complex hardware are united, it’s not one or the other — it’s something new. This new idea is RaaS.

Insights From a RaaS Investor
The pay-as-you-go model — or SaaS — has stretched far and wide over our society and has now reached robotics. However, bringing a new RaaS solution to market isn’t as easy as having an idea. You’re likely going to have to bring on investors.
What Investors Look For
RaaS investors like Paul and his partners at grep -vc look for a handful of key components in a founder:

They understand where the hardware is. Paul has heard one too many pitches for ideas using hardware that won’t be available any time soon. He looks for solutions based on hardware that’s predicted to come out in the next two years.
They understand what goes into the execution. RaaS investors aren’t only interested in your idea — founders need a realistic plan of action to go with it. Paul recommends that founders get some execution experience before they start pitching.
They’re technical. Paul is particularly excited to work with founders who are technical and operational. If someone comes to an investor like him, they’d better be willing to get their hands dirty to make their idea an actual solution.
What Founders Look For
RaaS is a sexy new trend to invest in. Because of this, founders need to make sure potential investors understand the market and don’t jump in like starry-eyed fanboys.

With a unique background in engineering, marketing, and venture capitalism, Paul offers solid advice for VCs exploring RaaS:

Know the difference between a hardware company and a RaaS startup.

Founders: See that your potential investors are well-versed in the RaaS world. You’ll encounter much more success with a knowledgeable investor than a VC who’s willing but inexperienced.

Global Service Robotics Market Size

These robots can significantly benefit humans in a variety of fields, including healthcare and medical, automation, construction, household, and entertainment. These robots are controlled by an internal control system, with the option to modify the operation manually. These service robots remove the possibility of human error, manage time, and increase production by lowering the workload of staff and labor.To get more news about Global Robotics Services, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

Developments in edge artificial intelligence processors and the arrival of 5G telecom services are likely to propel the market for service robots to new heights. Professional service robots with excellent performance along with low Power consumption might benefit from it. In addition, the leading breakthrough technology vendors are also working on enhanced, integrated, and complete designs for a variety of robotics solutions. Qualcomm, for example, announced the world’s first 5G and AI-based platform for professional and industrial service applications in June 2020. The CPU allows for heterogeneous computing, improved computer vision, and other features, making it perfect for low-Power robots and drones.

Agriculture service robotics is also a sort of service robotics. These service robots can spray herbicides to curb weed growth owing to the availability of technical sensors. The flexible and autonomous system boundaries that interconnect and give service to corporate customers are computerized by front office service robots. Data collection, hypothesis generation, and analysis are all common research tasks carried out by scientific robots. The advantages of service robotics to humanity include improving worker safety, accelerating production and efficiency, and managing cost and time savings. Various service robots can be programmed to create pictures, play music, scan colors, respond to touch and audio, scale whiteboard walls, and learn about robotics.
The capacities of these machines are being substantially expanded by technological advancements, which have enhanced their flexibility to execute various tasks in a very short amount of time. Robotics have transformed workflow operations in a variety of industries, including healthcare, logistics, defense, agriculture, and others. For instance, physicians are now able to perform precise and minimally invasive surgery due to the use of robots across the healthcare industry. Moreover, surgeons use these robots as a tool for achieving more accurate movements or incisions that are hard to emulate with human hands. Artificial intelligence for vision recognition, data analysis, predictive analytics, and other technologies are included in such robots.
Because of the rapid technical developments converging in artificial intelligence, automation, engineering, and machine learning, the robotics industry is rapidly fueling the service robotics market trends. The consequences of the advent of robots have led to a shift in human task-performing capabilities. As per the International Federation of Robotics, the number of robots has tripled in the last two decades. Additionally, new robotics developments would help the worldwide stock of robots to increase quickly during the next twenty years. Moreover, the consequences of robotics’ progress will boost emerging countries’ productivity and economic growth.
Data ownership raises ethical concerns, particularly with the advent of robotics software applications. The data collected by ground robots may differ significantly from that collected by drones. Individuals’ private information is available on the cloud as the usage of domestic robots for home duties, education, and entertainment grows. Third parties, like marketing and database organizations, frequently purchase this data, putting individuals’ privacy at risk. For example, Amazon and Google have, provided voice activation and smart response for robots like Lynx (humanoid) and Roomba (vacuum cleaner).
Based on Application, the market is segmented into Domestic, Medical, Public Relation, Entertainment, Education, & Personal, Inspection & Maintenance, Field, Logistics, Defense, Rescue, & Security, Construction & Demolition, Marine, and Others. In 2021, the medical segment garnered a substantial revenue share of the service robotics market. Because of the introduction of automation in the process of storing and moving commodities, service robotics is majorly facilitating a significant number of day-to-day tasks in numerous industries. In addition, service robots are in high demand in this industry to help streamline supply chain activities across sectors. Because of the growing trend of incorporating robotic solutions for key medical operations and the development of high-tech testing labs, medical service robots are estimated to observe significant growth. Unmanned aerial vehicles are used in the defense and agriculture industries because they can improve soldiers existing skills by shielding them from harm, detecting product ripeness, gauging soil fertility, and inspecting crops.
Based on Environment, the market is segmented into Ground, Aerial, and Marine. In 2021, the areal segment recorded a substantial revenue share of the service robotics market. The rising growth of the areal segment is owing to the growing use of business drones for a variety of critical tasks such as traffic monitoring and surveying farm fields, as well as commercial drones’ higher selling costs compared to consumer drones. Reduced costs of UAV production and the advent of solar cells as a source of Power for drones can lower the cost of propulsion technology and contribute to an increase in the demand.
Based on Type, the market is segmented into Professional and Personal & Domestic. In 2021, the professional segment witnessed the largest revenue share of the service robotics market. Professional service robots are used in sectors such as military and security, forestry, healthcare, agriculture, construction, and logistics. Apart from that, the widespread use of mobility along with automation across industries is positively affecting this segment’s growth. The growth of this segment is aided by rising labor costs, increased research and development spending, a scarcity of skilled workers, and increased awareness of service robots along with industrial automation. This would play a major role in increasing the growth of this segment.

Some blood pressure medicine may decrease the aneurysm rupture risk for people

A multi-center study of more than 3,000 people with high blood pressure and brain aneurysms found that the use of RAAS inhibitors, a class of blood pressure lowering medications, reduced the risk of an aneurysm rupture by 18%, according to new research published today in Hypertension, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.To get more news about RaaS, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

An aneurysm is a bulging or weakening in the wall of an artery. When this happens in an artery in the brain, it is called an intracranial aneurysm. If an intracranial aneurysm ruptures, it spills blood around the brain and cuts off oxygen to an affected area, which can cause a hemorrhagic stroke, coma and death. These strokes account for 3-5% of all strokes, but a larger proportion of morbidity and mortality than other types of strokes. Each year, approximately 30,000 adults in the United States have intracranial aneurysms that rupture, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Additionally, stroke is a leading cause of disability in the United States.

The body’s renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) includes hormones that affect blood pressure regulation, and dysregulation of the RAAS can lead to the development of high blood pressure. Two components of RAAS have been shown to be involved in the development of intracranial aneurysms, and previous research has found that dysregulation of RAAS may also contribute to aneurysm rupture. RAAS inhibitors, medications that block the effects of the RAAS, are often used to treat high blood pressure.

“Approximately half of patients with intracranial aneurysms have high blood pressure, which can cause vascular inflammation and increase the risk of aneurysm rupture,” said the study’s senior author Qinghai Huang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery at Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, China. “Given that one-third of patients with ruptured aneurysms die and another third remain dependent for daily life activities, there is a need to identify modifiable risk factors to prevent aneurysm rupture.”

This multi-center study analyzed data collected from 2016 to 2021 at 20 medical centers in different regions across China, collected pre- and post-rupture, to evaluate the association among the use of RAAS inhibitors and other blood pressure medications, including beta-blockers and diuretics, on the risk of aneurysm rupture.

More than 3,000 adults with high blood pressure and intracranial aneurysms were included. The study sample was one-third men and two-thirds women, with an average age of 61 years old. Participants’ hypertension status was categorized as controlled (normal blood pressure with the use of antihypertensive medications) or uncontrolled (high blood pressure, defined as 140/90 or above, with the use of antihypertensive medications), and was determined by blood pressure measurements taken at one point in time, three months before they were hospitalized for aneurysm.

The analysis found that 32% of participants who took RAAS inhibitors experienced an intracranial aneurysm rupture, compared to 67% of those who used non-RAAS inhibitors.

“We were surprised to find that even among people with controlled hypertension, those who took RAAS inhibitors still had a significantly lower rupture risk than individuals who used non-RAAS inhibitors. Our study highlights that using the proper antihypertensive medications to achieve normalization of blood pressure may remarkably decrease the risk of a ruptured aneurysm,” Huang said.

”Based on these data, we estimate that nearly 18% of ruptured aneurysms may be prevented if all patients with high blood pressure and intracranial aneurysms were prescribed with RAAS inhibitors. Due to the strong potential benefit and high safety of RAAS inhibitors, these findings may also help clinicians to optimize treatment to help people with high blood pressure prevent aneurysm rupture.”
“These findings confirm previous studies indicating that—in addition to blood pressure control—smoking cessation and aggressive treatment of Type 2 diabetes may also help reduce the risk of aneurysm rupture,” Huang said. “However, more research is needed to understand how RAAS inhibitors are involved in the prevention of intracranial aneurysm rupture in adults with high blood pressure.”

The authors noted that limitations include the study’s retrospective nature, the existence of potential confounders, that hypertension was defined as a blood pressure of 140/90, rather than of 130/80, that the exact value of participants’ blood pressure was not taken and that the duration and dose of RAAS inhibitors was not recorded in the database.
Studies published in the American Heart Association’s scientific journals are peer-reviewed. The statements and conclusions in each manuscript are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers and the Association’s overall financial information are available here.