You might find you don't really see a considerable number of robots hovering around you, waiting for your instructions and interacting with you.

But, do you realize that it might be because most of them haven't found a job yet to warrant frequent attention. Like someone who would browse through online jobs on offer, viewing each of them and going for the one that's suits the person best, robots need to go through the same process to literally develop their specific values.

A white robot with glasses and purple uniform found his job recently serving in a Peking duck restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui through Robotou - a blockchain-enabled service robot operating platform backed by HongDa Financial Holding.

As the world's first platform sourcing robotics solutions for merchants and helping them to customize using robots, Robotou decided on the launch in Hong Kong after two years of preparations.

"We were going around the world, looking into lots of robotic companies to find out pain points in the industry and come up with solutions accordingly," said Charles Tang, chief operating officer of Robotou.

Tang and his team realized that the bulk of venture capital usually goes to top-tier enterprises, and it's hard for middle-sized companies to chip in. "In this case, we're trying to bring together business owners and developers on to the platform to create an ecosystem that links business demand with robot suppliers," said Tang.

Besides, limited space and the high price of robots also stand in the way. "You might find you do hear about robots, but you rarely see lots of them anywhere, especially in Hong Kong," he said.

With the aim of getting rid of the pain points, Robotou was born to deal with these problems. On one hand, Robotou intends to offer affordable prices for either business owners or individuals. "Volume plays a part in cutting down costs," Tang said. "It just takes a few thousand Hong Kong dollars monthly for business owners to get these robots working in restaurants."

On the other hand, Robotou helps robotics companies market their robots.

"Some robots suppliers have already had solutions to issues in various industries, but they don't know how to market them or locate customers. Moreover, the distribution fees for them are pretty high," Tang said.

Backed up by the blockchain technology, which provides a new level of security and transparency for data transfers and storage, Robotou intends to energize and unlock the robot economy shared globally. On the platform, merchants could list all the requirements of robots, and the system will do auto-matching based on the robotics database.

The stakeholders, including business owners and robots suppliers, could check out the usage and operational data of each robot. "It's efficient and safer because everything is traceable with blockchain technology," explained Tang.

Created by Higgs Dynamics (Higgs), the catering service robot called "Four Eyes" was employed by Zither Garden (Zither), responsible for carrying the dishes and drinks from the kitchen to the table.

"Besides, his other duties include joining in the photos with customers and entertaining the kids in the restaurant," said Karen Au, chief executive officer of Zither Food & Beverage. Zither Garden is the first restaurant in Hong Kong to employ a catering service robot.

"Four Eyes" is designed to play a role in practicality and wooing customers. "Last year, China spent 2.2 trillion yuan to attract customers," said Michael Zhang, chief executive officer of Higgs. "Catering robots help cut down expenditure on advertising," he said. Higgs has set up its Hong Kong office to collaborate with Robotou in search of potentials in the local market.

"There's a lack of labor in the services sector in Hong Kong as the younger generation is unwilling to work in this industry," Au explained. "Through Robotou, we're now able to offer a more innovative and fresher customer experience in the restaurant because of the attention brought by the robot," Au added.

Before "Four Eyes" started work in the restaurant, Higgs and Zither had deliberated on every detail like its appearance and the uniform it wears.

"Michael is good at creating life in the robot by giving it a vivid design and cartoon outlook, while not making it too playful, in the way that people would like to accept robots," Tang said.

China's robotics market has great prospects in recent years.

The nation's service robotic industry reported its market had hit $1.32 billion last year, grabbing an almost 16-percent share of the world market, according to the Global and China Service Robot Industry Report (2018-22).

Tang said Robotou will focus on the services sector as a multi-billion-dollar market could be created by contributing just 1 percent to the sector.

The entire Robotou online platform is expected to be completed in nine months, with the aim of having 3,000 service robots of all types covering services for more than three million people and with more than 300,000 active users by then.

Tang sees Hong Kong as an ideal place to expand the company's operations east and west although it's not easy to run a robotics business in the city.

Robotou is in discussions with various hotel chains that are looking for robots to serve drinks. "Besides, libraries, airports and supermarkets are all in demand of tailored robots as well," Tang said.

"We also see big potential for the robotics business in the farming sector. While talking with robotics companies in Australia, we found there's one kind that the robot can scan the field and identify over 90 percent of garbage in the farm," Tang said.

He plans to introduce such farm devices in China.

pamelalin@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 09/21/2018 page10)