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Democratizing humanoid robots in customer service

Project description

Joey, at your service

Assistant humanoid robots are good for business! By welcoming customers to shops and offering assistance, these robots can attract customers and increase sales. But they are also expensive and cannot fully replace the human assistant who can advise about brands, colours and styles. In this context, the EU-funded Joey project is introducing an affordable and tailor-made robot by the same name. Joey, for instance, is designed to meet individual customer requirements. The project also allows for real-life testing through a rent or lease programme. Designed by the Swiss company Jinn-Bot Robotics, 3D printing technology ensures that a robot can be quickly produced to meet customer needs.

Objective

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.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

JINN-BOT ROBOTICS & DESIGN GMBH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
LIMMATSTRASSE 55
5412 GEBENSTORF
Switzerland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Nordwestschweiz Aargau
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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