【中英双语】当机器人接管一线工作，还需要人吗？
Robots Are Changing the Face of Customer Service
在《星球大战》（
Star Wars
）系列电影中，C-3PO是一个服务于银河系战争前线的礼宾机器人，展示了先进的跨文化礼仪知识以及讲700多万种语言的能力。 In the Star Wars franchise, C-3PO is a protocol droid that serves on the front lines of galactic war, demonstrating advanced knowledge of etiquette across cultures and an ability to speak more than 7 million languages. 虽然对机器人助手的这种描述是虚构的，但它与我们所见的在各种一线协助工作的机器人相差无几：客户服务的各个一线。希尔顿的“康妮（Connie）”和软银的“佩珀（Pepper）”之类的机器人虽然还不那么先进，但却可以利用这些机器人的语言能力和导航能力，在酒店、餐馆和商店创造更好的客户体验。 Though this depiction of a robot assistant is fiction, it’s not far from the robots that we see assisting on a different type of frontline: the frontlines of customer service. Robots like Hilton’s “Connie” and Softbank’s “Pepper,” though not quite as advanced, utilize these robots’ abilities in language and navigation to create better guest experiences in hotels, restaurants, and shops. 也许你认为你还未与服务机器人进行过互动，但你极有可能已使用过某个版本的机器人：杂货店里的自助售货机。由于新冠疫情，这种技术在过去几年中一直呈崛起之势。服务互动引起了人们对病毒传染和“口罩骚扰”的担忧；因此，自助售货机被推到了各种客户服务的前沿和中心。现在，随着疫情恐惧感的减弱，售货机会继续存在，而机器人则是服务的未来。 Maybe you think you haven’t interacted with a service robot, but you’ve most likely used a version of them: the self-service kiosks at the grocery store. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, such technology has been on the rise in the past few years. Service interactions evoked fears of viral contagion and “maskual harassment”; so, self-service kiosks were thrust front and center into the trenches of customer service. Now as the pandemic fears wane, service kiosks are here to stay, and robots are the future of service. 服务机器人的好处显而易见。他们不会通过空气传播病毒，也不会因为骚扰而身心疲惫。它们有可能降低成本，提高效率，并让繁冗的任务自动化。除了偶尔的故障或软件升级外，机器人可以全天候工作，不请病假、没有假期或带薪休假，从而保证酒店或租车前台始终有工作人员为顾客提供方便。 The benefits of service robots are clear. They won’t spread airborne viruses or get burned out from harassment. They have the potential to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and automate tedious tasks. Outside of the occasional glitch or software update, robots are available to work 24/7 without sick leave, holidays, or PTO, guaranteeing that the hotel or car rental front desk is always staffed for customers’ convenience. 不过，要看到这些好处，服务机器人必须以正确的方式设计和应用，否则客户——以及人类同事——会避免与他们互动。新出现的证据让人注意到，机器人如何能够在客户服务领域发挥最佳作用。 But to see these gains,
service robots must be designed and implemented the right way
, otherwise customers — and human coworkers — will avoid interacting with them. Emerging evidence highlights the ways that robots can work best in customer service.
设计成人类模样的机器人——在某种程度上
Robots Designed to be Humanlike – to a Point
客户对人际之间的融洽关系和“微笑服务”抱有期待——那么，服务机器人是否能够满足客户？ Customers have expectations for interpersonal rapport and “service with a smile” — so, can a service robot satisfy customers? 能被赋予人类属性（“好可爱！”）——包括情感特质——的服务机器人更有可能让客户满意。2022年《国际酒店管理杂志》（
International Journal of Hospitality Management
）上的一项研究发现，人类模样的机器人只有在被认为是女性的情况下才会更令客户满意，这符合人们对人际交往型特征千篇一律的期待。 Service robots that can be given human attributes (“so cute!”) — including emotional qualities — are more likely to satisfy customers. A 2022 study in
International Journal of Hospitality Management
found that a more human-like robot was more satisfying to customers
only
if perceived as female, consistent with stereotypical expectations for interpersonally-oriented traits. 需要明确的是，“人类模样”并不意味着服务机器人需要有表情丰富的脸和人类的身体。让我们来看看《星球大战》中的机器人R2D2——以及最近的BB-8——即使没有面孔、四肢或声音，也能够引人发笑、博得同情。而模样太像人类的机器人会让人感觉怪异，产生不适感，人称恐怖谷效应[参见：电影《极地快车》（
Polar Express
）]。 To be clear, “human-like” doesn’t mean that service robots require expressive faces and human bodies. Consider how Star Wars’ robots R2D2 — and more recently BB-8 — could elicit laughter and sympathy despite having no faces, limbs, or voices. And a robot that is too human-like can feel eerie and create discomfort, known as the uncanny valley effect (see: the movie
Polar Express
). 比设计人类模样的机器人更重要的是让客户将他们视为有情感的生物。2021年发表在《应用心理学杂志》（Journal of Applied Psychology）上的一项研究以日本首家配备了机器人的酒店为背景，在194名酒店客人结账时询问了他们对入住的满意度。在入住时，一半的客人得到过指导，将酒店机器人看作是人——把他们想象成能够思考和感觉的人——而另一半客人没有得到这些指导。尽管两组人都与相同的服务机器人进行了互动，但那些将机器人看作是人的客人满意度更高——这是因为他们更多地感知到了服务机器人的感觉能力，而不是思考能力。当酒店客人认为机器人有感情时，相比其没有这种看法的情形，他们更能原谅服务失误。毕竟，人非圣贤，孰能无过——这样一来，客户可能会以更大的同理心看待人类模样的机器人的失职。换言之，如果服务机器人仍属于测试版，请确保客户以同理心待之——就像他们对待仍在培训中的新员工一样。 More important than designing robots to
look
human is for customers to
perceive
them as emotional beings. Using the first robot-staffed hotel in Japan as a context, a 2021 study published in
Journal of Applied Psychology
asked 194 hotel guests at checkout about their satisfaction with their stay. At check-in, half of the guests were given instructions to anthropomorphize the hotel robots — to imagine them as beings who could think and feel — and the other half did not get these instructions. Though both groups interacted with the same service robots, those who humanized the robots had higher satisfaction — and this was due to perceiving the service robot’s capacity for
feelings
more than for thinking. Hotel guests were also more forgiving of service failures when they ascribed feelings to the robots than if they did not. After all, to err is human — such that customers may view failures with human-like robots with more empathy. In other words, if service robots are still in the beta version, make sure customers see them with empathy — just as they would with new employees who are still in training. 因此，用服务机器人取代自助售货机并不足以让客户满意——客户希望某种情感上的联系。这不需要完美的表现或怪异的人类表情——只需一个写有“珍妮弗”的机器人姓名牌和一个告诉顾客要体谅他们感受的告示牌足矣。 So, replacing a self-serve kiosk with a service robot is not enough for customer satisfaction — customers want an emotional connection. This doesn’t require a perfect performance or eerily human expressions — just a robot name tag that says “Jennifer” and a placard that tells customers to be considerate of their feelings is sufficient.
为功能性而设计的机器人——不仅仅是为了标新立异
Robots Designed for Functionality — Not Just Novelty
机器人在美国方兴未艾，而在亚洲却更为普遍。一项对酒店客人在线满意度评分的分析表明，与服务机器人的互动主要唤起的是积极的情感反应，比如对充当迎宾员、被人格化的“可爱”机器人产生的情感反应，以及对提供客房服务的机器人产生的惊奇和快乐（尤其是对儿童而言）。 While still emerging in the United States, robots are more common in Asia. An analysis of online satisfaction ratings from hotel guests showed that interacting with a service robot evokes mostly positive emotional reactions, such as around the anthropomorphized “cute” robot as a welcome agent, and the surprise and delight (especially for children) of a robot delivering room service. 在客户对服务机器人的看法中，新奇性起了很大作用。可是，一旦每个收银台和前台都有了机器人，他们是否还会继续满足人心？除了新奇，接受调查的酒店客人也喜欢它们的功能性。 Novelty plays a big role in customer perceptions of service robots, but will they continue to satisfy once every cash register and front desk has one? Beyond the novelty, the hotel guests studied also liked their functionality. 迄今为止，功能性是人类与机器人的互动中最重要的方面，也是决定客户体验中最大的决定性因素。将机器人安置在服务岗位通常会让人们对高效和无差错的表现抱有错误的希望，但与任何技术一样，小故障和用户差错会让体验受挫。 Functionality is by far the most important aspect of human-robot interactions and the greatest determinant of customer experience. Placing robots in service positions often gives people false hope for efficient and error-free performance, but as with any technology, glitches and user error can frustrate the experience. 我们可以从自助结账机的案例获得借鉴，其初衷也是为了提高效率、降低成本。沃尔玛、山姆会员店和Panera Bread等大超市已经完全撤掉了收银员。不幸的是，正当自助结账机变得无处不在时，它们却慢慢遭到客户的厌弃，因为他们感觉这种技术使用不顺，并对失去各种服务（例如，给杂货装袋）感到恼怒。 We can learn from the case of self-checkout kiosks, which were also originally intended to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Big box stores like Walmart and Sam’s Club and Panera Bread have been replacing cashiers entirely. Unfortunately, as they became ubiquitous, self-checkouts slowly became hated by customers, due to frustration with using the technology and irritation at the loss of services (e.g., bagging groceries). 处理大量呼叫和日常请求的呼叫中心早已使用聊天室和自动系统来评估客户的情感基调。正如2018年《哈佛商业评论》英文版中的述评所写的那样，艾达（Aida）是瑞典一家银行的虚拟助理，可以帮助处理简单的交易，把不那么单调的任务留给人类。艾达还能判断客户是否感到沮丧，如果服务问题无法得到有效解决，她可以把这个人送交给人类。 Call centers that deal with high volumes and routine requests have long used chatboxes and automated systems to assess the emotional tone of a customer’s voice. As reviewed in 2018 in HBR, Aida is a virtual assistant at a Swedish bank who can help with simple transactions, leaving less monotonous tasks for the humans. Aida can also tell if customers are frustrated and can send the person over to a human if the service issue cannot be resolved effectively. 然而，人类服务员工不应该只被请来与骂骂咧咧的客户互动，这会导致倦怠和离职。理想的情况下，服务机器人的一个功能可以充当保护——只要你愿意，充当一个“保镖”——她可以挡驾，让人类员工不用面对谩骂或诋毁的客户。把技术上受挫或担心的客户与谩骂的客户区分开来的功能可以帮助人类员工欢迎机器人加入团队。 However, the human service employees should not be invited to interact solely with abusive customers, which would induce burnout and turnover. Ideally, a function of the service robot could be as protection — a “bouncer” if you will — who blocks abusive or derogatory customers from human agents. The functionality to differentiate the technologically frustrated or fearful customer from the abusive one can help human employees welcome the robot to the team. 久而久之，随着服务机器人技术越来越普遍，且融入到日常生活中，它们的新奇性会逐渐消逝。为确保机器人在客户服务领域的长期成功，重要的是要在利用其好处和保持人情味之间取得平衡。 Over time, as service robot technologies become more widespread and integrated into everyday life, their novelty will wear off. To ensure the long-term success of robots in customer service, it is important to strike a balance between utilizing their benefits and maintaining a human touch.
与客户群和任务相配的机器人
Robots Matched to Customer Base and Tasks
即使你有人格化的、功能强大的机器人，你的客户群也必须接受机器人的服务互动，这需要在心理上和技术上都做好准备。虽然人形机器人在亚洲早已出现，但在美国，客户的接受度仍然是一个主要障碍。 Even if you have anthropomorphized and highly functional robots, your customer base must accept robot service interactions, which requires both a psychological and technical readiness. While humanoid robots have long been present in Asia, customer acceptance is still a major obstacle in the United States. 机器人是否适合你的公司？那些拥有高度个性化客户服务、需要融洽关系、信任和解决问题的行业可能不是服务机器人的用武之地。更加标准化和自动化的服务更适合，比如收银机交易、酒店入住和跑腿服务。 Are robots right for your company? Industries that have highly personalized client services that require a rapport, trust and problem-solving are probably not a great place for service robots. Services that are more standardized and automatic are a better fit, such as cash register transactions and hotel check-in and errands. 还有，客户群的性质也很重要。为了与机器人进行成功的互动，客户必须既有信心、又有愿望与机器人互动。虽然酒店在礼宾机器人方面取得了很大的成功，但高端客户可能会拒绝邀请机器人前来酒店房间提供额外的毛巾。他们更喜欢人的声音或面容。最有信心、最愿意接受机器人的人群主要是年轻的男性消费群体。其他客户可能会怀疑自己的互动能力，或者可能不相信机器人在功能上能够协助他们。企业还必须考虑，如果机器人不能有效地帮助大多数客户，技术在哪些方面与其说可以助人一臂之力，不如说是一种拖累。 Yet, the nature of the customer base also matters. In order to have a successful interaction with a robot, customers must have both the confidence and the desire to interact with the robot. While hotels see a lot of success with concierge robots, high-end clients may demur to invite a robot to come to the hotel room with extra towels and prefer a human voice or face. The demographic that’s most confident and ready to accept robots is a predominantly young and male consumer base. Other customers may doubt their own capability to interact or may not believe that the robot is functionally able to assist them. Companies also must consider where tech can become more cumbersome than helpful if the robot is not able to help the majority of customers effectively. 要管理客户与机器人的服务互动，人类员工必不可少。他们需要亲临现场，根据需要指导客户与机器人进行互动。为了避免出现杂货店自助结账通道那样的情形，请不要简单地让客户去费事，而完全取消人工服务的选项。简而言之，机器人和同事是最有效的服务团队。 To manage the customer-robot service interactions, human employees are essential. They need to be present to guide customers through the robot interactions as needed. To avoid being like the self-checkout lane at the grocery store, don’t simply put your customers to work and remove the option for human services completely. In short, robots and coworkers are the most effective service team.
引入机器人做同事——而不是替代品
Robots Introduced as Coworkers – Not Replacements
将机器人引入到客户服务一线可能会让人类员工既感到如释重负，又感到充满威胁。把机器人安置在前台和中心，可以减少单调的任务，减少对客户无礼行为，但人类同事可能对机器人的功能持怀疑态度——或者可能担心它们功能太强大，会抢了他们的饭碗。 Introducing robots to customer service front lines can feel relieving
and
threatening to human employees. Putting robots front and center can reduce monotonous tasks and reduce customer mistreatment, but human coworkers may be skeptical of robots’ functionality — or may fear they are too functional and will steal their jobs. 要清楚，人类员工是将新技术成功整合到企业的不可或缺的部分。为了客户，他们帮助机器人的人格化（比如，“你见过Jennifer吗，她是我的新机器人同事？”），确保机器人的功能，并在功能未达到预期时接管工作，而他们自己与机器人互动的轻松自在为那些原本可能持怀疑态度的客户起到了榜样作用。 Be clear that human employees are an essential part of the successful integration of new technologies into a business. They help anthropomorphize the robots for customers (e.g., “have you met Jennifer, my new robot coworker?” ensure robot functionality, and take over when not meeting expectations, and their own comfort interacting with the robot serves to role model for customers who might otherwise be skeptical. 为了提高与机器人队友相处的舒适感，管理者应该传递这样的信息，即，目的不是取代人类，而是为了成功整合机器人和人类劳动，以获得最佳客户体验。管理者通过有效传达机器人技术方面的信息——它的功能和限制——并提供技术培训和专业知识的奖励计划来给予帮助。此外，管理者应该传达的是，新技术会如何保护员工免受最繁冗任务和不友善客户之苦，与之互动甚至可能十分有趣、令人愉快。 To increase comfort with robot teammates, managers should communicate that the goal is not to replace humans but to successfully integrate robot and human labor for the optimal customer experience. Managers help by effectively communicating about the robot technology — its functionality and its limits — and offering reward programs for technology training and expertise. In addition, managers should communicate how the new technology can protect employees from the most tedious tasks and unpleasant customers, and might even be fun and enjoyable to interact with. 虽然机器人可能会接管一些标准化和日常性的一线工作——比如，杂货店收银员或酒店前台职员——但人性的多样性和复杂性可能仍然要求人类参与到这些形式的服务中。当员工意识到他们的任务变得更加有趣时——有机器人来对付单调乏味的任务或骂骂咧咧的客户——他们可能完全希望在下一个欢乐时光邀约中把那台机器人包括进去。 While robots are likely to take over some front-line jobs that are standardized and routine — the grocery cashier or hotel front-desk clerk, for example — the diversity and complexity of human nature is likely to still require that humans are involved in even these forms of service. When employees realize that their tasks become more interesting — with the robot dealing with the monotonous tasks or abusive customers — they might just want to include that robot in the next happy hour invitation. 服务机器人是一项新兴技术，而服务机器人可能会在客户服务互动之外带来意想不到的好处。管理学教授唐博文（Pok Man Tang，音译）是前述2021年发表在《应用心理学杂志》上那项研究的作者之一。他发现的早期证据证明，与人格化的服务机器人互动会提高客户对多元化的开放态度：无论是对非传统产品的接受度，还是对弱势化服务员工的态度。 Service robots is an emerging technology, and service robots might have unexpected benefits beyond the customer service interaction. Management professor Pok Man Tang, one of the authors of the above 2021 study in
Journal of Applied Psychology
, has discovered early evidence that interactions with anthropomorphized service robots enhance customers’ openness to diversity: both their acceptance of nonconventional products and attitudes toward minoritized service employees. 最终，人们是否会继续享受机器人的客户服务，这取决于这项技术的人际交往能力、人性（不能太少，也不能太多）和功能，以及人类（客户和同事）的接受度。机器人技术不应简单地被当作一种新添的新鲜玩意儿，而是应仔细整合，为客户提供价值，为员工提供支持——在自动化和人类互动之间维持平衡。 Ultimately, whether people continue to enjoy robots in customer service will depend on the interpersonal skill and human-ness (not too little or too much) and functionality of the technology, and the acceptance of the humans (customers and coworkers). Robot technology should not simply be added as a novelty, but carefully integrated to deliver value to customers and support employees — maintaining a balance between automation and human interaction. 艾丽西亚·格朗代是宾夕法尼亚州立大学工业-组织心理学文科教授。她发表的创新研究涉及客户服务中的情绪和员工队伍的多元化，在与企业领导者的研讨会上分享了她的知识。作为健康-包容-高效工作场所计划（
Healthy-Inclusive-Productive （H.I.P.） Workplace Initiative
）的创始人，她努力确保科学为企业组织提供信息并使其受益。 凯莉·莫里斯是宾夕法尼亚州立大学工业-组织心理学专业的博士生。她目前在人类与机器人合作实验室（
Human and Robot Teaming Lab （H.a.R.T.
）工作，并与艾丽西亚·格朗代博士的研究实验室合作。她的研究重点是人与机器人的互动和代表性不足的员工群体。在来到宾夕法尼亚州立大学之前，她曾在一家大型科技与电信公司从事员工体验策略工作。 时青靖 | 编辑
