I am currently working as a Doctoral Researcher exploring new horizons in Human-Robot Interaction, especially in the hospitality sector. I completed my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, in 2018 and I earned a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Management at Tampere University, Finland, in 2020. I am interested in the field of Human-robot interaction. My research focuses mainly on the human-robot interactions and user behavior of humanoid social robots in hospitality sector.
Social robots exhibit a range of affordances for users. Drawing on the affordance theory, this study examined the affordance actualization of social robots in hotels based on user experience of social robots use. An LDA topic modeling analysis was performed based on online hotel reviews generated by hotel customers on TripAdvisor. We found that users actualize social robots’ affordances such as luggage and storage handling, front desk tasks, delivery tasks, and navigational assistance while providing enjoyment and social interactions during hotel services. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering the actualized utilitarian, social, and hedonic affordances and the specific dimensions of these affordances of social robots in hotels.
