Joey · Democratizing humanoid robots in customer service

Digital sales are set to double over the next 10 years, reaching an average of 25%. With this increasing competition from e-commerce, physical stores require new strategies to attract customers and increase sales. Consumers are no longer engaged by products or services, but rather by new experiences. In order to bring new experiences into physical stores and provide a useful service to customers, assistant humanoid robots have been integrated by big brands, and have experienced sales and traffic increases of 15% and 18% respectively. These robots provide a wow factor to stores, captivate consumers, and, not only are they an innovative marketing tool, but they can also perform routine customer service tasks 24/7 better than humans, freeing up staff from tedious tasks, and ultimately increasing productivity. However, existing assistant humanoid robots on the market require a high investment to purchase them and are not affordable for SMEs; they can't be customized (e.g. logos' brands, color), thus their potential as marketing tool is not optimized; they can' t be tested for a short period of time to evaluate their output to the business; and can only be purchased (with the risk of becoming obsolete in the short term), not rented or leased. Besides, the customer support provided is slow and inefficient.Aligning with today's society sharing economy mindset, with a preference for renting/leasing instead of buying, we, Jinn-Bot Robotics and Design, have developed Joey, an assistant humanoid robot that can be rented/leased for short periods of time at an affordable price, democratizing therefore its use in customer service oriented businesses. With our renting/leasing model and our economic 3D printing production of the robot, we are able to overcome limitations previously mentioned from existing robots on the market. Most importantly, through renting/leasing, businesses can test first-hand the real output (e.g. increased sales) our robot can bring to their businesses.