Industrial - Bachelor

CADAH: The Hologram Concierge

CADAH is the culmination of research, investigation, and design into human-robot interactions as part of the Advancing Humanoid Robotics industry project with WOWME Design.
It addresses opportunities to support concierges and directional assistants in high-end customer service roles, and enhances customer experiences though novel technology.

Nicola Lafferty

the opportunity

Primary research, in the form of observations and interviews, were collected at the beginning of this project. The research aimed to investigate the interactions, responsibilities, potential opportunities in the world of high-level customer service.
Tertiary research on humanoid robotics, human-robot-interactions (HRI’s), similar existing products, and other background knowledge was valuable to contextualise pain points identified in primary research.
Opportunities identified can be grouped into two main areas;

Opportunities to Support staff

Opportunity to take on simple, repetitive tasks that currently take time away from important staff duties.

Rapid-response staff backup, as sudden influxes of guests currently leave staff outnumbered and underperforming.

Less staff needed for undesirable working hours like Christmas or late night.

Opportunities to Increase the quality & range of customer service

Opportunity to offer additional services to guests – what can a robot do that a human can’t?

Novelty and entertainment factor can be an attractor for certain clientele.

Staff can focus on delivering high quality customer service if small, low-importance, low-stakes responsibilities are automated.

Introducing cadah, the hologram concierge

CADAH (short for Concierge And Directional Assistant Hologram) is a social humanoid robot that answers questions and gives directions to guests. It is designed for establishments that offer a high level of customer service, such as 5-star hotels, upmarket theatres, art galleries, and corporate spaces.

CADAH provides prompt backup to concierge staff during fluctuations and busy periods by greeting guests, offering assistance, and answering simple questions. This frees up human staff to attend to complex requests and complete their other duties without feeling overloaded.

CADAH enables establishments to increase the quality and range of offerings to customers. This includes leading guests to rooms, speaking different languages, facility information, and instant communication with staff.
Woman holding coffee cup looks up at architectuer, CADAH hologram is nearby providing information.

Inputs & Emotional AI

Input from a high resolution camera and microphone array is processed through Emotional Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse facial expression, tone of voice, and style of speaking.

This allows CADAH to identify and approach guests looking for assistance, acknowledge returning guests, and have a comprehensive understanding of guest interactions.

Connectivity

CADAH sports a powerful processor, wireless connectivity to the internet and to local systems.

It can alert staff via their earpieces for discreet communication, utilising existing communication systems.

External firmware could enable CADAH to operate elevators, depening on the brand and age of the system.

Acoustic Holographic Display

An ultrasonic speaker array and LED projector levitate lightweight particles to create an acoustic hologram in 3D space. This technology is an extrapolation of existing acoustic holograms that work using the same principles on a smaller scale.

Customisation

Aesthetics are informed by a mix of design theory and primary research; The five colour options were selected to cover warm, cool, dark, and light colour palletes, and CADAH’s materials and finishes ensure it ‘looks the part’ in any space it operates in.

The digital nature of a hologram means that the CADAH avatar is readily customisable. Appearance, uniform, whether the avatar is a person at all; all of these things can be customised to suit the design language and image of an establishment.
An exploded view of the CADAH product.

Parts and Manufacturing

CADAH is made from a mix of custom and off-the-shelf parts. Aside from the ultrasonic speaker array and motherboard, all elecronics are off-the-shelf components. This helps to reduce cost and manufacturing time of an already large and expensive project.

The unique nature of the product means that many of the structural components are custom-made. Sheet material is used extensively for the body; sheet aluminium forms the body, mainennence doors, electronics housing, and kick plate. 5mm mild steel sheet form the structural base plate where the swerve drives and frame attach.

The internal void and cloche cover are both extrusion blow molded. The transparent acryllic cloche is the most expensive part to manufacture due to the size of the mold needed, material cost, and high tolerances needed to ensure a transparent and flawless finish.

The support frame is assembled from pre-fabricated extruded aluminium rods, commonly used in robotics and machine frames, and the external fabric skin is a tight-weave polyester mesh cut to cover the aluminium body.

Fastening bolts and nuts are all off-the-shelf components. Glue is not used in the assembly to ensure the robot can be easily dissasembled and reassembled for repair if needed.

CADAH is not designed to replace human staff; it is designed to draw on the strengths of robotics and artificial intelligence to assist staff by taking on simple or repetitive tasks, allowing staff to perform their duties to a high standard without feeling overloaded.

Woman and CADAH robot in a lobby, walking away from the camera.

Nicola Lafferty

Nicola is an Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering (hons) student at Queensland University of Technology. She has an interest in all things design and problem-solving, exploring novel and unconventional solutions to complex issues.