  This work introduces a robotics platform which embeds a conversational AI
agent in an embodied system for natural language understanding and intelligent
decision-making for service tasks; integrating task planning and human-like
conversation. The agent is derived from a large language model, which has
learned from a vast corpus of general knowledge. In addition to generating
dialogue, this agent can interface with the physical world by invoking commands
on the robot; seamlessly merging communication and behavior. This system is
demonstrated in a free-form tour-guide scenario, in an HRI study combining
robots with and without conversational AI capabilities. Performance is measured
along five dimensions: overall effectiveness, exploration abilities,
scrutinization abilities, receptiveness to personification, and adaptability.
