ABSTRACT The Henn-na Hotel in Japan has employed robots for its operations since 2015. In January 2019, the hotel announced it had fired half its robotic workforce. This news generated many comments on social media. The purpose of this study is to analyze the comments to inform researchers and practitioners about people’s reactions to this news. Based on topic modeling techniques, the results show the comments focus on three topics: (1) The difficulty of using robots to replace human services, (2) The robot embodiment, and (3) The apprehension about job replacement. Reviews of the associated comments indicate there is skepticism about the robots’ abilities to replace human services. However, there is also apprehension about job losses when robots become more capable of taking over the jobs. With regards to the robot embodiment, there are low sentiments for the female humanoid at the front desk as it was perceived as ‘scary’ and ‘horrible’. The comments suggest the hotel to: (1) upgrade its technology, (2) improve the appearance of the female robot, and (3) address people’s concerns regarding job losses. The study discusses the implications of the results.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体有关酒店机器人的评论

摘要日本的Henn-na酒店自2015年以来一直使用机器人进行运营。2019年1月，酒店宣布解雇了一半的机器人员工。这则新闻在社交媒体上引起了很多评论。这项研究的目的是分析评论，以使研究人员和从业人员了解人们对这一新闻的反应。基于主题建模技术，结果表明评论集中在三个主题上：（1）使用机器人代替人工服务的难度；（2）机器人的体现；以及（3）对工作替换的担忧。对相关评论的评论表明，人们对机器人取代人工服务的能力表示怀疑。但是，当机器人变得更有能力接管工作时，也会担心失去工作。关于机器人的实施方式，前台的女性人形生物被人们认为是“恐怖”和“可怕”的，因此情绪低落。这些评论建议酒店：（1）升级其技术，（2）改善女性机器人的外观，以及（3）解决人们对失业的担忧。该研究讨论了结果的含义。