Pepper Mitigating Anxiety During the Vaccination Process in Germany
As a significant milestone in efforts to control the pandemic, vaccination centers all over the world have been effectively working with endless enthusiasm. Rolling out vaccines comes with giving repetitive yet highly important information to all the patients throughout the day.
Wuppertal vaccination center on the Freudenberg campus in Germany decided to deploy a humanoid robot, Pepper, as contactless, voice-activated service support for the vaccination process. Pepper was mainly involved in the 3 major operations where social distancing is key in the vaccination center:
- Welcoming
-
Waiting
-
Observation after vaccination
On the patients’ arrival, Pepper proactively welcomes and provides vaccine-related information. In the waiting area, the robot entertains the patients and, as versatile service support, minimizes nervousness before the upcoming vaccination. After vaccination, during the 15 minutes patients needs to stay in observation, Pepper ensures to collect feedback that is used to continuously improve customer experience & provides the acknowledgment for vaccine preparation!
According to Tobias Krebber, Head of Wuppertal vaccine distribution in Wuppertal: “Pepper means a very positive experience for our staff and our patients. With Pepper, we see the benefit in repetitive information service since the same information is given several times a day. Pepper communicates this information in a very friendly manner. We have noticed that visitor acceptance towards a social robot is very high and our visitors are readily listening to Pepper. Especially for repetitive tasks, Pepper offers strong advantages. With several hundred vaccines per day, a social robot is an asset to give out repetitive information so that the staff can focus on other important tasks”. Krebber adds that Pepper is doing a great job already and in the future can be seen as an effective investment in vaccination centers around the globe!
SoftBank Robotics Europe is proud to support its partner, Entrance Robotics GmbH, in this positive and heartwarming project.
