Ubiquitous Networks and Next-generation Robots
- Interdependence Agent: A Concept of Next-generation Robots -

Next-generation robots are being introduced into the service industry in view of their definition and characteristics, and due to the demands of the times. However, in an extremely large number of cases, discussions held upon looking into introducing such robots into the service industry fail to address important issues.

This article will first make three suggestions for making next-generation robots feasible as businesses based on these discussions. It will then show one of the most important paths that next-generation robot businesses should pursue, based especially on the third suggestion.

Firstly, it is important to consciously seek to ultimately develop a system of such type that integrates and optimally combines human beings and next-generation robots.

Many attempts are currently being made to completely replace human beings who take on a certain role in the process of providing services with next-generation robots-i.e., machines-at once. There are certainly some areas in which next-generation robots should completely replace human beings who have traditionally been in charge. Basically, however, a beneficial system is ultimately expected to be a type that optimally combines human beings and next-generation robots (technology) in a well-balanced manner.

Secondly, it is important that the approach taken is to identify all processes in a series of services and review the processes as a whole-in other words, an approach that involves service process reengineering.

It appears that in many cases, the approach is to focus on the areas where next-generation robots seem adaptable from among many sub-processes that provide services, calculate the costs just in those areas, and compare efficiency and performance improvements in those areas only.

To sum up these two points, it is fair to say that discussions in the past lacked the perspective of customer value.

Thirdly, whenever the service industry is mentioned, the back office (back stage), which primarily relies on manual labor, and the front office (front stage), which has the role of building relationships with customers, should clearly be distinguished from each other.

If next-generation robots are compared with conventional industrial robots, there is hardly any difference between introducing robots into the back office segment of the service industry and introducing industrial robots into production sites in the manufacturing industry. Only the front office may be regarded as the place where the unconventional characteristics of next-generation robots could be utilized. However, front office tasks require sophisticated abilities, and the added value created varies significantly with abilities even when they are performed by human beings. Therefore, it will probably take a long time for next-generation robots (technology) to fulfill advanced roles in the front office. That said, it would be possible to introduce next-generation robots into the front office segment without waiting until the distant future if, as mentioned already, each system of services provided is carefully reviewed as a whole and is determined to be based on the combination of human beings and next-generation robots, so that tasks that are better performed by humans are done by humans while those that should be undertaken by machines are done by machines.

More attention is paid to the front office than the back office not only because it suits the characteristics of next-generation robots. As the back office mainly involves simple manual labor, the price range of candidates to be replaced by next-generation robots is low and the target cost of next-generation robots has to be set at a low level. On the other hand, the front office is a place where value is created and provided to customers who form the source of profits for corporate activities in the course of building relationships with customers. If new customer value can be created here, it will generate new profits for companies.

The task of building a relationship with customers, which is undertaken by the front office, is not just a matter for the service industry. For all companies including those in the manufacturing industry, the issue of how to find added value in such relationships with customers is becoming increasingly important in order for companies to survive the competition.

In particular, the top priority for all companies nowadays is how to provide customized benefits while meeting the demands of diversified customers on an individual basis. Next-generation robots and the technologies for these robots have the potential to realize the customization of benefits capable of dealing with such individual customers. In short, it will lead to the creation of a completely new method of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).


With this in mind, the first crucial approach that needs to be taken in the business of next-generation robots is to incorporate next-generation robots or robot-technology-based devices in between companies and customers, and connect them to ubiquitous networks. The idea is to connect them to ubiquitous networks to provide data on relationships with individual customers as well as benefits that meet the demands of individual customers on a timely basis. Looking at it from a different angle, the idea is to give next-generation robots the role of a smart interface device that would serve as an intermediary of companies and customers.

Needless to say, for the purpose of creating new values and turning them into businesses by connecting ubiquitous networks with next-generation robots, it is necessary to give next-generation robots a role that complements ubiquitous networks in creating value.

There are a number of ways in which ubiquitous networks can contribute to value creation: speedy access to massive volumes of information at low cost, promotion of conversion of middlemen, elimination of physical assets such as inventories, creation of an extremely wide scope of interpersonal relationships, etc. At the same time, however, the dissemination of ubiquitous networks is resulting in weaker associations between individual pieces of information and shallower interpersonal relationships, and even making it more difficult to differentiate companies from others, which is the source of added value.

A solution is to establish a mutually complementary relationship, for example, by making next-generation robots take on such roles as building a deep relationship with individual customers, providing products and services of companies at the perfect timing and in the best circumstances by identifying their characteristics and giving feedback to companies on customers' reactions when the products and services were provided.

Such a deep relationship between customers and companies-i.e., a mutually dependent relationship brought about by creating a relationship of mutual trust-is referred to as interdependence in this article. Various characteristics of next-generation robots are deemed to be capable of realizing interdependence. It means that next-generation robots would not just serve as an "interface" between products and services provided by companies and individual customers, but also fulfill the role of an agent who creates an interdependent relationship between customers and companies and enable the exchange of information between them. The concept of "Interdependence Agent" may become an essential concept of next-generation robots.