WORKING WITH: Hotelschool The Hague

Workshops happen all the time in RoboHouse. Sometimes the energy in the room is particularly strong. We asked Klaas Koerten, researcher robotics for the Hotelschool The Hague, about his successful Canvas Session last week.

Question 1: What was the goal of the day?

“The goal was to get the Hotelschool students informed about what is being done at Robohouse, and with the collaboration between the Hotelschool and Robohouse.”

Question 2: Who was present? What made this a strong group of collaborators?

“There were 20 minor students from Hotelschool The Hague, three lecturers from the Hotelschool The Hague, Martin Klomp from Robohouse and Tom Dalhuisen from Dalco robotics and myself, Klaas Koerten, researcher hospitality robotics. It was nice to give the students key insights in the development of robots. Martin klomp was there to give some insights on robot building and Tom Dalhuisen gave a nice demonstration and explanation about his hospitality robot, the Rober 2.0.”

Question 3: What were the main challenges that the group ran into during the day?

“The students used the Canvas method from Robohouse to think how various processes in hotels and restaurants can be automated. The challenge was to find interesting challenges and opportunities for automation. By consulting myself, Martin Klomp and the internet, they found answers and insights about robotic solutions. The processes they chose to automate were fuelled by their own experiences of working in hotels and the various challenges encountered there.

Question 4: Did anything unexpected happen?

“The students were very interactive and enthusiastic during the demonstration from Dalco robotics. They provided Tom Dalhuisen with some new insights of surprisingly high quality, drawing from their own personal work experience in hotels.”

Question 5: What will come next?

The ultimate goal of the collaboration between the Hotelschool The Hague and Robohouse is to set up a working lab. In this lab, students and researchers from the Hotelschool and TU Delft can design, manufacture and test new robotic solutions for hospitality. This session was a first positive step in that direction.