Method for providing service using robot

Abstract

SOLUTION: A method implemented in a system providing a service using a robot is provided, where the system comprising an information acquisition unit, a service guide information determination unit and a service provision unit. The method comprises the steps of: acquiring information associated with a serving place of the robot and information on a customer visiting the serving place; determining service guide information including information on a travel route to a table to be provided to the customer, among a plurality of tables in the serving place, and on a conversation scenario to be provided to the customer during travel to the table to be provided to the customer, with reference to the information associated with the serving place and the information on the customer; and providing the customer with a service associated with the serving place by the robot with reference to the service guide information. In the determining step, the information on the conversation scenario is determined on the basis of a conversation topic in which the customer is interested at or above a predetermined level.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for providing services using a robot.

Background Art

[0002] Since robots can automate and perform difficult tasks and repetitive operations, they are utilized to replace or assist humans in various fields. Recently, various studies have been conducted on technologies for providing services using such robots.

[0003] As an example of the prior art related to this, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 can be cited. According to this, a robot system for transporting a container containing food and drink ordered in a restaurant is introduced in order to serve the food and drink.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, according to the prior art including the technologies introduced so far as described above, there has been only interest in how robots can serve ordered food and beverages well (for example, avoiding obstacles such as tables), and there has been no specific treatment of providing a service that comprehensively provides greetings to welcome customers visiting the service-providing location, guidance to seats, orders, etc., that is, host service by robots. In particular, when providing such host service, interaction and dialogue with customers are important. Through this, the first impression of the service-providing location is formed, or image-making of that location is carried out. Therefore, in order to effectively provide host service, it is necessary to comprehensively and adaptively consider information related to the service-providing location and information about customers visiting that service-providing location.

[0006] Therefore, the present inventors propose a novel and progressive technology in which service guide information is determined with reference to information related to the service-providing location and information about customers visiting that service-providing location, and a service related to the service-providing location is adaptively provided to customers by a robot based on that service guide information.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to solve all the problems of the prior art described above.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a robot-based host service in which greetings, conversations, guidance to table seats, orders, etc. for customers are made by a robot in consideration of information related to the service-providing location and information about customers visiting that service-providing location.

[0009] Another object of the present invention is to ensure that an appropriate flow of conversation is continued according to the situation while a robot guides a customer to a table based on a dialogue scenario determined in consideration of information related to the service-providing location and information about customers visiting that service-providing location.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0010] A typical configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is as follows.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing a service using a robot, the method including: obtaining information related to a service-providing location of the robot and information related to a customer who visits the service-providing location; determining service guide information including information related to a movement route to a table provided to the customer among a plurality of tables in the service-providing location and information related to at least one of dialogue scenarios provided to the customer during the process of moving to the table provided to the customer, with reference to the information related to the service-providing location and the information related to the customer; and causing the robot to provide a service related to the service-providing location to the customer with reference to the service guide information.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing a service using a robot, the system including: an information acquisition unit that acquires information related to a service-providing location of the robot and information related to a customer who visits the service-providing location; a service guide information determination unit that determines service guide information including information related to a movement route to a table provided to the customer among a plurality of tables in the service-providing location and information related to at least one of dialogue scenarios provided to the customer during the process of moving to the table provided to the customer, with reference to the information related to the service-providing location and the information related to the customer; and a service provision unit that causes the robot to provide a service related to the service-providing location to the customer with reference to the service guide information.

[0013] In addition, there are further provided other methods for embodying the present invention, other systems, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program for executing the above method.

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a robot-based host service in which greetings, conversations, table seating guidance, orders, etc. for customers are made by a robot in consideration of information related to the service-providing location and information related to customers who visit the service-providing location.

[0015] Also, according to the present invention, by ensuring that an appropriate conversation flow according to the situation continues while the robot guides the customer to the table based on a conversation scenario determined in consideration of information related to the service-providing location and information related to customers who visit the service-providing location, it becomes possible to form familiarity with the customer and increase the customer's satisfaction with the service-providing location.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] The detailed description of the present invention to be described below refers to the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments in which the present invention can be implemented as examples. Such embodiments are described in detail so that those skilled in the art can fully implement the present invention. It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different from each other but do not have to be mutually exclusive. For example, the specific shapes, structures, and characteristics described in this specification can be changed and implemented from one embodiment to another without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It should also be understood that the position or arrangement of individual components within each embodiment can be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the detailed description to be described below is not made in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention should be understood to include the scope claimed in the claims of the patent claims and all scopes equivalent thereto. Similar reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or similar components throughout various aspects.

[0018] Hereinafter, in order to enable those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains to easily implement the present invention, a detailed description will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings regarding various preferred embodiments of the present invention.

[0019] Configuration of the entire system

[0020] FIG. 1 is a drawing schematically showing the configuration of an entire system for providing a service using a robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, the entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention can include a communication network 100, a service providing system 200, and a robot 300.

[0022] First, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the communication network 100 can be configured regardless of the communication mode such as wired communication or wireless communication, and can be composed of various communication networks such as a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and a wide area network (WAN). Preferably, the communication network 100 in this specification can be a known Internet or World Wide Web (WWW). However, the communication network 100 does not necessarily have to be limited thereto, and may include at least a part of a known wired / wireless data communication network, a known telephone network, or a known wired / wireless television communication network.

[0023] For example, as a wireless data communication network, the communication network 100 may implement at least a part of conventional communication methods such as Wi-Fi communication, Wi-Fi Direct communication, Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication (more specifically, Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy (BLE) communication), infrared communication, and ultrasonic communication.

[0024] Next, the service providing system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention can communicate with the robot 300 described later through the communication network 100, obtain information related to the service providing location of the robot 300 and information related to the customers visiting the service providing location, and refer to the information related to the service providing location and the information related to the customers to determine service guide information including information related to at least one of the movement route to the table provided to the customer among a plurality of tables in the service providing location and the dialogue scenario provided to the customer during the process of moving to the table provided to the customer, and can perform a function of enabling the robot 300 to provide a service related to the service providing location to the customer with reference to the service guide information.

[0025] On the one hand, the service providing system 200 has been described as above. However, such a description is exemplary, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that at least some of the functions and components required for the service providing system 200 may be implemented or included within the robot 300 or an external system (not shown) described below as needed. Also, in some cases, all the functions and all the components of the service providing system 200 may be entirely implemented or included within the robot 300.

[0026] Next, the robot 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention can communicate with the service providing system 200 through the communication network 100, and is a device that can autonomously perform predetermined functions or assigned tasks (for example, serving food and drinks, collecting containers, etc.) without an operation by a user, and includes at least one of modules for loading and unloading an object (for example, a food tray) (for example, a grab, a robot arm module, etc.), a video module for acquiring surrounding video (for example, a visible light camera, an infrared camera, etc.), and a drive module for moving the robot 300 (for example, a motor, etc.). For example, such a robot 300 can be a robot having characteristics and functions similar to at least one of a guiding robot, a transporting robot, a cleaning robot, a medical robot, an entertainment robot, a pet robot, and a drone.

[0027] On the other hand, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the robot 300 may include an application for enabling the service according to the present invention to be provided. Such an application may be downloaded from the service providing system 200 or an external application distribution server (not shown).

[0028] Configuration of the Service Providing System

[0029] Hereinafter, the internal configuration of the service - providing system 200 that performs important functions for the implementation of the present invention and the functions of each component will be examined in detail.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a drawing exemplarily showing the internal configuration of the service - providing system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, the service - providing system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include an information acquisition unit 210, a service guide information determination unit 220, a service provision unit 230, a communication unit 240, and a control unit 250. According to an embodiment of the present invention, at least a part of the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, the service provision unit 230, the communication unit 240, and the control unit 250 may be program modules that communicate with an external system (not shown). Such program modules may be included in the service - providing system 200 in the form of an operation system, an application module, and other program modules, and may be physically stored on various known storage devices. Also, such program modules may be stored in a remote storage device that can communicate with the service - providing system 200. On the other hand, such program modules include, but are not limited to, routines, sub - routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific operations described later according to the present invention or execute specific abstract data types.

[0032] First, the information acquisition unit 210 according to an embodiment of the present invention can perform a function of acquiring information related to the service providing location of the robot 300 and information related to customers who visit the service providing location. For example, the information related to the service providing location of the robot 300 may include location information of the service providing location such as the name, business type, address, and region of the service providing location, idle tables in the service providing location (or tables expected to generate an idle state and the required time until its occurrence), order status occurring in the service providing location, and status information of the service providing location such as available menus of the service providing location. Further, the information related to customers according to an embodiment of the present invention may include customer identification information such as the gender, age, number, and type (e.g., couple or family) of the customer, and customer visit history information (e.g., when the identity of the customer is specified based on the face of the customer, information such as the food and drinks ordered by the customer corresponding to the identity during previous visits, the tables used, and the conversations made with the robot 300).

[0033] For example, when the service providing location according to an embodiment of the present invention is a restaurant, the information acquisition unit 210 can acquire information related to the service providing location such as the name of the restaurant, the business type of the restaurant, the address of the restaurant, the region of the restaurant, idle tables in the restaurant, the required time until an idle table occurs in the restaurant (e.g., considering the time when food and drinks are provided to the customers at a specific table, the average intake time for each type of food and drink (or for each customer), etc., the required time until an idle table occurs is determined), the order and material supply and demand status in the restaurant (e.g., how much the order has accumulated, how much remaining food materials are available, etc.), and special menus of the restaurant (e.g., today's menu), and information related to customers who visit the service providing location such as the age, gender, number, type (e.g., couple or family), and visit history of the customers who visit the restaurant.

[0034] More specifically, the information acquisition unit 210 can be linked to a restaurant inventory management system, a point of sale (POS) information management system, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, etc., and can acquire information related to the service providing location through such systems. Further, the information acquisition unit 210 can identify appearance information such as the face and body shape of a customer visiting the service providing location by using the video module of the robot 300 or the video module within the service providing location, and can acquire information about the corresponding customer based on the identified information.

[0035] Next, the service guide information determination unit 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention can perform a function of determining service guide information including information related to at least one of a movement route to a table provided to a customer among a plurality of tables in a service providing location and a dialogue scenario provided to the customer in the process of moving to the table provided to the customer with reference to the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 210. Here, the service guide information determination unit 220 can determine the table provided to the corresponding customer based on a table among a plurality of idle tables (or tables scheduled to be idle) that is estimated to have a high preference degree for the customer visiting the corresponding service providing location or a table having a high priority in the corresponding service providing location. More specifically, the service guide information determination unit 220 can determine a table estimated to have a high preference degree for the corresponding customer or a table having a high priority in the service providing location with reference to a learning result of a table preference pattern or a preferred table according to time zone, age, gender, etc. of a plurality of customers, and can determine the table having the highest preference degree or priority among a plurality of idle tables (or tables scheduled to be idle) in the corresponding service providing location as the table provided to the customer. On the other hand, the service guide information determination unit 220 can specify the preferred table of the corresponding customer with reference to the visit history of the corresponding customer (specifically, the visit history of the corresponding customer to the corresponding service providing location), and may determine the table provided to the corresponding customer with reference to the specified preferred table. In addition, the service guide information determination unit 220 can assign a weight value to a table frequently used by the corresponding customer specified with reference to the visit history of the corresponding customer, and can determine the table provided to the corresponding customer based on the weight value (for example, based on the result of learning the table preference pattern or the preferred table reflecting the weight value).

[0036] For example, the service guide information determination unit 220 refers to information regarding at least one of the movement routes of other robots 300 within the service providing location, the current status of table arrangements within the service providing location, and the current status of table usage within the service providing location, and can determine information regarding an optimal movement route for moving a customer to a table provided to the corresponding customer based on the position of the customer (for example, the entrance of the service providing location). More specifically, when the service providing location according to the present invention is a restaurant, the service guide information determination unit 220 determines that the movement route of other robots 300 within the restaurant (or an area within a predetermined distance based on the movement route) does not overlap with a plurality of routes between the position of the entrance of the restaurant (that is, the current position of the customer) and the table within the restaurant provided to the corresponding customer, and a relatively wide movement space can be secured. Information regarding an optimal movement route can be determined based on a movement route that is the shortest route while passing by the periphery of a table with few customers within the restaurant.

[0037] As another example, the service guide information determination unit 220 refers to information related to the service providing location and information related to the customer, and during the time it takes to move to the table provided to the corresponding customer, can determine information regarding a conversation scenario for having at least one small talk regarding an introduction related to the corresponding service providing location, products of the corresponding service providing location (for example, menu), weather, news, or sports, humor related to the area where the corresponding service providing location exists, concerns of the corresponding customer's gender or age group (for example, fashion), etc. The conversation scenario here can mean the way or the flow of the conversation made between the customer and the robot 300 based on at least one conversation topic.

[0038] More specifically, the service guide information determination unit 220 provides the customer with small talk that takes as the theme of the conversation at least one of an introduction regarding the corresponding service providing location, products (e.g., menu) at the corresponding service providing location, weather, news, sports, and humor related to the region where the corresponding service providing location exists, and develops a conversation on the same theme or changes the conversation to another theme according to the feedback (e.g., positive or negative) provided by the customer, and can continue the flow of the conversation for a predetermined time and determine information regarding the conversation scenario.

[0039] Also, the service guide information determination unit 220 may determine information regarding the conversation scenario provided to the customer with reference to the distance based on the movement route to the table provided to the customer.

[0040] For example, the service guide information determination unit 220 can determine information regarding the conversation scenario based on the theme of the conversation, the length of the conversation, and the progress of the conversation (e.g., start, continuation, transition, conclusion) corresponding to the distance based on the movement route to the table provided to the customer. More specifically, the service guide information determination unit 220 can determine that there is a predetermined correlation (e.g., proportional relationship) between the distance based on the movement route to the table provided to the customer and the length of the conversation, and can determine information regarding the conversation scenario based on the length of the conversation corresponding to the correlation and the theme of the conversation and the progress of the conversation suitable for the length of the conversation. On the other hand, the service guide information determination unit 220 may determine information regarding the conversation scenario with reference to a look-up table regarding the theme of the conversation or the progress of the conversation according to the length of the conversation.

[0041] Also, the service guide information determination unit 220 may determine information regarding the conversation scenario based on the theme of the conversation with a high degree of interest of the customer.

[0042] For example, the service guide information determination unit 220 can identify the demographic information (e.g., age, gender, race, etc.) specified from the appearance of a customer visiting the service providing location or the visit history of the corresponding customer to the service providing location, and identify the main topic of the conversation that the corresponding customer is presumed to be highly interested in (or prefers). Based on the small talk corresponding to the preferred conversation topic, the flow of the conversation can be continued for a predetermined time, and information regarding the conversation scenario can be determined.

[0043] On the other hand, the conversation scenario detailed above may be pre-set, but may also be continuously updated by repeatedly performing searches, collections, purifications, and learning on the topics, texts, etc. of the conversation through social network services (SNS), web servers, cloud servers, etc.

[0044] For example, a plurality of conversation scenarios are collected (e.g., crawled) through social network services, web servers, cloud servers, etc. For the consecutive texts of the plurality of conversation scenarios, a semantic vector regarding the text (e.g., determined by utilizing algorithms such as word2vec, sentence2vec, etc.) and an intention pattern (as a pattern regarding what intention or context each text means and what order it has in relation to other texts, for example, classified through various artificial intelligence algorithms such as deep neural network (DNN), convolutional neural network (CNN), support vector machine (SVM), etc.) can be extracted. Based on the extracted semantic vector and intention vector, a database for generating conversation scenarios (e.g., conversation scenarios can be generated by combining texts based on the semantic vector and intention vector) can be updated periodically or aperiodically.

[0045] In addition, the service guide information determination unit 220 can perform learning by referring to the dialogue scenario and information on feedback provided by the customer corresponding to the dialogue scenario, and determine information on the dialogue scenario to be provided to the corresponding customer or a customer similar to the customer (for example, a customer with similar gender, age, race, etc.) with reference to the result of the learning.

[0046] Next, the service providing unit 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention can perform a function of enabling a service related to the service providing location to be provided to the customer by the robot 300 with reference to the service guide information. For example, when the service providing location according to an embodiment of the present invention is a restaurant, related services may include a reception service, an ordering service, a serving service, a calculation service, and the like.

[0047] For example, the service providing unit 230 can provide a reception service in which, for a customer visiting the service providing location, while guiding the customer to the table provided to the corresponding customer by the robot 300, the service providing unit 230 has a dialogue with the corresponding customer regarding greetings, humor, weather, sports, an introduction to the service providing location (for example, representative menu, today's menu), and the like. More specifically, it is clarified that the dialogue between the customer and the robot 300 can be mainly voice-based, but the dialogue method according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to voice only and may be changed to various methods such as video.

[0048] Next, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the communication unit 240 can perform a function of enabling data transmission and reception from / to the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, and the service providing unit 230.

[0049] Finally, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 250 can perform a function of controlling the data flow among the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, the service provision unit 230, and the communication unit 240. That is, the control unit 250 according to an embodiment of the present invention can control the data flow from / to the outside of the service provision system 200 or the data flow among the components of the service provision system 200, so as to control the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, the service provision unit 230, and the communication unit 240 to perform their respective specific functions.

[0050] FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are drawings exemplarily showing a situation where a service is provided using the robot 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 3, it can be assumed that the service provision location according to the present invention is a restaurant, and a situation where a service is provided by the robot 300 for customers visiting the restaurant is considered. Also, in the corresponding restaurant, services related to the service provision location may be provided by a plurality of robots 300a and 300b.

[0052] First, according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a plurality of customers 301 and 302 visit a restaurant where a service is provided by the robot 300, information related to the restaurant and information related to the plurality of customers 301 and 302 visiting the restaurant can be acquired.

[0053] For example, information related to the restaurant such as the name of the restaurant, the type of business of the restaurant, the address of the restaurant, the area of the restaurant, the idle tables in the restaurant, the time required until an idle table appears in the restaurant, the order and material supply status in the restaurant, the special menu of the restaurant, etc., and information related to the customers such as the age, gender, number, type, visit history, etc. of the customers visiting the restaurant can be acquired.

[0054] More specifically, by using the video module of the robot 300a, the number of customers visiting the service-providing location is two. The genders of each customer are male and female, the customer type is a couple, and information that the ages of both customers are in their 30s can be obtained as information about the customers. Also, through the restaurant's point-of-sale (POS) information management system, information can be obtained that the number of vacant tables in the corresponding restaurant is two, namely tables 320 and 330, and the other tables 310 and 340 are being used by other customers, and the estimated time required until the meal at the occupied tables is finished is 30 minutes.

[0055] Thereafter, according to an embodiment of the present invention, with reference to the information related to the restaurant and the information related to the customers 301 and 302 visiting the restaurant, the movement route 305 to the table 320 provided to the customers 301 and 302 among the plurality of tables in the restaurant and at least one of the dialogue scenarios provided to the customers 301 and 302 in the process of moving to the table 320 provided to the customers 301 and 302, service guide information including related information can be determined.

[0056] For example, referring to information related to a restaurant and information about customers 301 and 302 who visit the restaurant, a movement route 305 that moves along the window to table 320 in the restaurant provided to customers 301 and 302 and, during the process of moving along the movement route 305 to the corresponding table 320, service guide information including information related to at least one of greeting, weather, humor, today's menu, and a dialogue scenario that develops a dialogue in the order of the position of the provided table 320 can be determined. More specifically, among a plurality of idle tables (or tables scheduled to be idle) in the restaurant, a table estimated to have a high preference degree of customers 301 and 302 who visit the corresponding restaurant or a table with a high priority for men or women in their 30s at the corresponding restaurant can be used as a reference to determine the table 320 (i.e., the window-side table) provided to the corresponding customers 301 and 302. On the other hand, in this case, when all of the window-side tables 310 and 320 are in use, the table provided to customers 301 and 302 can be determined with reference to the time required until the in-use table becomes an idle table. After that, among a plurality of routes from the current position of the corresponding customers 301 and 302 to the table 320 provided to the corresponding customers 301 and 302, information regarding the movement route can be determined based on the shortest route that does not overlap with the movement route of other robots 300b in the restaurant and can ensure a predetermined level of movement space.

[0057] Thereafter, according to an embodiment of the present invention, services related to the restaurant can be provided to customers 301 and 302 by robot 300a with reference to the service guide information.

[0058] For example, with reference to the service guide information determined as described above, while robot 300a guides customers 301 and 302 along movement route 305, a response service can be provided by developing a dialogue in the order of greeting, weather, humor, today's menu, and the position 320 of the provided table.

[0059] After that, referring to FIG. 4, when customers 301 and 302 are seated at the provided table 320, the robot 300a can provide various services related to a restaurant, such as an ordering service, a serving service, and a payment service, to customers 301 and 302.

[0060] On the other hand, according to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to information related to a restaurant and information related to customers visiting the restaurant, a service related to at least one of guidance, reservation, and payment for products or services of a restaurant (or other service-providing places) that is presumed to be of high interest to customers 301 and 302 may be provided by the robot 300a.

[0061] For example, referring to information on product coupons that are on promotion at a restaurant and the meal frequencies and meal amounts of customers 301 and 302, it may be presumed that customers 301 and 302 have a high interest in information on product coupons with a predetermined discount amount that can be obtained at the restaurant. Information on the product coupons can be guided to customers 301 and 302 or reservations can be made for the corresponding product coupons, and payment can also be made through the robot 300a. In this case, the robot 300 may further include payment means such as a payment terminal (for example, a card terminal) and a display (for example, a display for outputting a QR code (registered trademark) for payment).

[0062] On the other hand, it is clarified that the products or services presumed to be of high interest to customers 301 and 302 according to the present invention are not necessarily limited to those related to a specific service-providing place, and can be extended to various products (for example, baseball tickets) or services of other service-providing places specified by referring to information related to customers.

[0063] Configuration of the robot

[0064] The robot 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be a robot that performs a task similar to a task performed by at least one of a guiding robot, a serving robot, a transporting robot, a cleaning robot, a medical robot, an entertainment robot, a pet robot, and an unmanned flying robot, and for this purpose, it can be embodied in various shapes that conform to each task.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 5, the robot 300 may include a main body 510, a driving unit 520, and a processor 530.

[0066] For example, the main body 510 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include at least one loading space for loading an object to be transported or an object to be collected. Such an object to be transported and an object to be collected according to an embodiment of the present invention are concepts that collectively refer to all types of objects that can move, and may be concepts that include, for example, things, animals, people, etc. For example, the object to be transported may be food and drink, and the object to be collected may be a container containing the corresponding food and drink.

[0067] Referring to FIG. 6, for example, when the robot 300 is a service robot, it can include a first space 610 and a second space 620 for providing an object to be transported and collecting an object to be collected. Further, the robot 300 can further include a third space 630 which is an extended space provided through a detachable column, and by further adding an extended space as needed, it can be equipped with more loading spaces. Also, the robot 300 may further include a tray 640 dedicated to an object to be transported or an object to be collected. For example, when viewed from above, the tray 640 can have a configuration in which a plurality of circular grooves are formed on its upper surface. Each circular groove may be formed such that the lower part of a cup containing a beverage is placed and can be easily fixed to a certain extent. The sizes of such circular grooves can be various. Further, a fourth space 650 that can be taken out through the side surface of the robot 300 may be further included below the first space 610 of the robot 300. The fourth space 650 according to an embodiment of the present invention can have a form similar to a basket, in which an empty space is formed inside, the side surface is closed, the upper surface is open, and the lower surface is closed. However, the loading space of the robot 300 according to the present invention is not limited to the above-listed content and can be variously embodied in other forms of loading spaces and the like within the range that can achieve the object of the present invention.

[0068] On the other hand, referring to FIG. 5 again, the main body 510 may further include a photographing module (for example, a visible light camera, an infrared camera, etc.) (not shown) and a scanner module (for example, a lidar sensor, etc.) for acquiring peripheral video (for example, customers, tables, employees, other robots 300, etc.) and obstacle information.

[0069] Next, the driving unit 520 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be configured to include a module for moving the main body 510 to another location or a module for loading and unloading an object to be transported and an object to be collected.

[0070] For example, as a module for moving the main body 510 to other locations, the driving unit 520 can include modules related to wheels, propellers, etc. that are driven electrically, mechanically, or hydraulically. As a module for loading and unloading objects to be transported and objects to be collected, it can include a robotic arm module for mounting and transporting objects to be transported and objects to be collected, etc.

[0071] Next, the processor 530 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be electrically connected to the driving unit 520 to perform the function of controlling the driving unit 520 (it may further include a communication module for communication with an external system). For example, it can mean a data processing device built into hardware that has a circuit physically structured to perform functions represented by codes or instructions included in a program. For example, such a data processing device built into hardware can include processing devices such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, a processor core, a multiprocessor, an ASIC (application - specific integrated circuit), an FPGA (field programmable gate array), etc.

[0072] Also, the processor 530 can perform at least one of the functions of the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, and the service provision unit 230 of the service provision system 200 according to the present invention (for example, the corresponding function can be modularized and included in the processor 530), and may perform the function of controlling the driving unit 520 through communication with an external system (not shown) that performs at least one of the functions of the information acquisition unit 210, the service guide information determination unit 220, and the service provision unit 230.

[0073] Specifically, the processor 530 acquires information related to the service providing location of the robot 300 and information related to customers who visit the service providing location, refers to the information related to the service providing location and the information related to the customers, and determines service guide information including information related to at least one of the movement route to the table provided to the customer among a plurality of tables in the service providing location and the dialogue scenario provided to the customer in the process of moving to the table provided to the customer, and can perform a function of enabling the robot 300 to provide a service related to the service providing location to the customer with reference to the service guide information.

[0074] In the above, the embodiment in which the service providing location according to the present invention is a restaurant has been mainly described. However, it is clarified that the service providing location is not necessarily limited to only a restaurant, and may be changed to a café, an izakaya, a bar, etc. as much as possible within the range where the object of the present invention can be achieved.

[0075] The embodiments according to the present invention described above can be embodied in the form of program instruction words executable through various computer components and recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium can include program instruction words, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instruction words recorded on the computer-readable recording medium can be those specially designed and configured for the present invention or those known and usable to those skilled in the field of computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, and hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instruction words such as ROMs, RAMs, flash memories, etc. Examples of program instruction words include not only machine language codes such as those made by compilers but also high-level language codes executable by a computer using an interpreter, etc. The hardware device can be changed into one or more software modules to perform the processing according to the present invention, and vice versa.

[0076] As described above, the present invention has been described by specific examples and drawings limited to specific matters such as specific components, etc., but this is only provided to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications and changes from such descriptions.

[0077] Therefore, the idea of the present invention should not be defined and limited to the embodiments described above. It can be said that not only the scope of the following claims but also all scopes equivalent to or equivalently changed from this scope of claims belong to the category of the idea of the present invention.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0078] 100 Communication network 200 Service providing system 210 Information acquisition unit 220 Service guide information determination unit 230 Service providing unit 240 Communication unit 250 Control unit 300 Robot

Claims

[Claim 1] A method to be performed in a system for providing a service using a robot, comprising: The system includes an information acquisition unit, a service guide information determination unit, and a service providing unit, an acquisition step of acquiring information related to a service providing location of the robot and information on a customer visiting the service providing location by the information acquisition unit; a determining step of determining, by the service guide information determining unit, service guide information including information on a movement route to a table provided to the customer among a plurality of tables in the service providing location and information on a dialogue scenario to be provided to the customer while moving to the table provided to the customer, by referring to information related to the service providing location and information on the customer; a providing step of causing the service providing unit to provide a service related to the service providing location to the customer by the robot with reference to the service guide information; The method further comprising: determining, in the determining step, information about the dialogue scenario based on a dialogue topic in which the degree of interest of the customer is at or above a predetermined level.

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