Ecosystem of a shopping mall robot - Neel

This study is an extension to our research on long term deployment of an assistive robot in a shopping mall. In this paper, we have discussed the architecture of robot Neel using rich web interactions and Unified communication methods to stay connected with users in an interpersonal manner. This enables the robot to build rapport among users by assisting shoppers to get offers and deals based on their preferences along with assisting retailers by connecting to their target customers. After the in-person human-robot interaction, both can stay connected with each other by using unified messaging services. Also we discuss the utility of having a robot in such a scenario, where it can aid humans with the strong online recommendation and interaction engines by connecting with potential shoppers and relevant retailers in the mall. The trials provide us valuable information for long term deployment and feasibility of such autonomous, intelligent, interactive robots in our social space for having effective Human robot interactions and communication.