By Kavita Kumar

Star Tribune

During Super Bowl week, a handful of sassy robots playfully posed for selfies, simulated throwing a football and quizzed Mall of America visitors on sports trivia.

Meet Pepper, who with a tablet mounted on its chest is one of the latest technologies shopping centers are testing to keep customers interested in coming to physical stores. MOA also now uses chatbots on its website and mobile app to answer customers’ questions.

While SoftBank Robotics’ Pepper has become a common sight in mobile phone stores, banks and restaurants in Japan, it and other humanoid robots are still a relative novelty here in the U.S. But as the technology has improved and these robots are now being upgraded with facial recognition and artificial intelligence, more companies are beginning to explore if there is a practical business reason to employ such robots beyond just turning heads.

The Mall of America, one of the first shopping malls in the U.S. to try out the robots, began its pilot program over Black Friday weekend. Mall executives are interested to see whether Pepper can be another useful tool to help visitors find a specific store or restaurant in the gigantic mall, while also helping the mall think through and develop a voice strategy as it looks to tap into the power of Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

“This is sort of like an extension of our guest-services team,” Sarah Townes, the mall’s vice president of marketing, said of Pepper. “We’re always looking at that guest experience and how we can reduce any challenges in helping maneuver around a large property like this. And there’s also just the fun factor of having them here.”

Dave Hopkins, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, said it’s wise for the Mall of America to experiment with the newest technologies as it aims to keep attracting people despite the popularity of online shopping.

“The mall is under pressure,” he said. “So they need to keep innovating their customer experience to keep people coming to the mall.”

The mall launched its chatbot, a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to have a conversation, in early December in the midst of the holiday rush. It interacts via text with customers on its website, mobile app and Facebook messenger and via voice through Pepper and Amazon’s Alexa.

“Hi there and thanks for chatting with us,” the chatbot says in a dialogue box when visitors to the mall’s recently revamped website click on the “chat” button from the homepage. “Our virtual assistant can help you right away. If you would like to speak with one of our live team members, just type ‘live person.’ What can we help you with today?”

Common questions include the mall’s hours, transportation options to get there, which stores and restaurants it has and what special events it has coming up.

While the mall has a digital team that typically responds to such queries, the chatbot has become the mall’s first line of response and helps when workers are busy also fielding inquiries from Twitter and text messages.

“Sometimes, people just need a quick answer,” Townes said. “They don’t need that long, more personalized experience.”

The chatbot is also handy during hours when the mall is closed, when, say, people from other countries and in different time zones may visit the mall’s website to plan a trip.

By taking over some of the basic work, the chatbot frees up the mall’s workers to spend time addressing more detailed questions, Townes said, and to do other tasks such as gathering content to post on social media.