FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE TRAVELERS’ PERCEPTION REGARDING THE USE OF SERVICE ROBOTS IN NIGERIAN AIRPORTS

Abstract

This study was on Factors that influence travelers’ perception regarding the use of service robots in Nigerian airports. Two objectives were raised which included: To find out the traveler’s perception on social rules of robot in Nigeria airport and to find out the traveler’s perception on human social behavior of robot in Nigeria airport. In line with these objectives, three research questions and hypotheses were formulated and answered. The total population for the study is 150 selected travelers at Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. The study recommended that Airport has been using cleaning robots around the airport terminals and lounges that disinfect areas using ultraviolet (UV) light, which has been shown to efficiently kill harmful viruses and bacteria to provide a safe, secure environment for passengers. It encouraging for government to provide more robot in all the airport in Nigeria

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

The current period is said to be the universe of innovation (Jakhete & Mankar, 2015). Many new technologies have been used to improve customer services in airport such as robots. The Robot Institute of America defines robot as “A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks” (Bartneck & Forlizzi, 2004). Robotics is now considered one of the most appealing human’s achievements. As of late, produced robots are progressively being accessible for people in general (T. Kurfess, 2015). Robots are complex yet valuable systems that have been utilized in industry for decades where the capacity and utility of robots have also drastically been expanded (Proctor et al.,2016).

The immensely growing passenger volume in air traffic worldwide poses an enormous challenge for all air carriers and airport operators. With the increasing number of passengers arriving and departing at an airport, the probability of delays and missed connection flights grows accordingly. Furthermore, busy hubs such as the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport are particularly challenging for the growing numbers of first-time air passengers, people with little knowledge of foreign languages or those who need any kind of special attendance. For them and for others, finding a fast and efficient way from an arrival gate to a departure gate for connection can be very difficult, especially if the first, incoming flight was delayed. For air carriers, missed connecting flights often result in additional cost for rebooking and baggage reloading, while for the passengers it means further delays and the inconveniences associated with them  Abbeel P, Ng AY (2004)

Spencer is the first socially-aware robot deployed at an airport,” explains Kai Arras, project coordinator at Freiburg University. “Spencer is unique is that it can deal with social situations between people and reason about possible social relations between people, such as whether they are a family or group. It also learns about and then complies to social rules and acts in a human-friendly way. Guiding people at an airport is a good example of a challenging everyday problem. It is a very busy environment with many people and there is a lot of time pressure while the robot has to operate safely and in a socially acceptable way. These abilities are important for many intelligent service robots to be used by people such as future household robots, collaborative factory assistants, or self-driving cars.

As the Nigerian government reopening the aviation industry, stakeholders have been working on modalities to contain the spread of COVID-19 at the airports. Consequently, the federal government has announced plans to deploy robots at the airports all over the country.

The robots are being deployed for passenger facilitation activities, including profiling, check-ins and temperature checks, as well as detection of security threats. The authorities said the measures are being taken to ensure safety of the country. The General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Federal Aviation Authority, Henrietta Yakubu said a test run is currently going on at the Lagos airport. “It’s a demo that is going on in Lagos. It’s been demonstrated. If it works fine, it will be adopted,” she told Punch

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika said that as part of the precautionary process, travelers will have to arrive at the airports three or five hours before their flight. This he said will allow the robots and other safety measures to be put in use. He added that additional measures will be announced in due time.

Rwanda was the first African country to deploy robots in the battle against COVID-19. The machines were used in the testing of coronavirus cases and delivery of essential services. The Rwandan Health Minister Ngamije Daniel said the robots made service delivery faster and they saved lives working in the stead of humans

Deploying robot to Nigeria airport, what would be travelers’ perception regarding the use of service of robots in Nigerian. Based on this, researcher wants to find out those factors that influence travelers’ perception regarding the use of service robots in Nigerian airports

Statement of the problem

Robots are being used to ensure passenger safety by carrying out health checks, cleaning protocols and security measures. So far, how human social behavior, and how social rules can be used to perform a socially compliant robot behavior, particularly during path planning. But how can we obtain these social rules? In principle, there are two different approaches. Either the rules are provided manually by human experts and converted into machine-understandable representations, or they are learned automatically from sensor observations.

Airport environments are naturally populated by people from many different cultures. Thus, many different social rules may be required here. One example we investigate is proxemics (Hall, 1966), i.e. the distance the robot should keep from a group when interacting.

Objective of the study

The objective of this study is find out the factors that influence travelers’ perception regarding the use of service robots in Nigerian airports. The specific objectives are;

1. To find out the traveler’s perception on social rules of robot in Nigeria airport
2. To find out the traveler’s perception on human social behavior of robot in Nigeria airport

Research question

The following research questions were formulated;

1. What is the traveler’s perception on social rules of robot in Nigeria airport?
2. What is the traveler’s perception on human social behavior of robot in Nigeria airport?

Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated

H0: there is no traveler’s perception on social rules of robot in Nigeria airport

H1: there is traveler’s perception on social rules of robot in Nigeria airport

H0: there is no traveler’s perception on human social behavior of robot in Nigeria airport

H2: there is traveler’s perception on human social behavior of robot in Nigeria airport

Significance of the study

The study will be very significant to students, ministry of aviation and the general public. The study will give a clear insight on the factors that influence travelers’ perception regarding the use of service robots in Nigerian airports. The result of the study will enlighten the general public and the ministry of aviation on the benefit of employing robot to help secure, clean and check health issue of travelers. The study will also serve as a reference to other researcher that will embark on the related topic

Scope of the study

The scope of the study covers the factors that influence travelers’ perception regarding the use of service robots in Nigerian airports. The study will be limited to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja

Limitation of the study

The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this research

Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study

Definition of terms

Traveler: A traveller is a person who is making a journey or a person who travels a lot. Many air travellers suffer puffy ankles and feet during long flights.

Robot: A robot is a machine especially one programmable by a computer capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.

Perception: Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system

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