Meet the Robots Transforming the Airport Experience
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APEX Insight: Robots are finding a place in airports, helping passengers navigate widespread terminals and answering their frequently asked questions in their native tongue. From where to find your boarding gate to what the weather forecast is at your destination, airport robots have the answer.
Airport robots are here! They’re friendly and multilingual, and some will even escort you to your boarding gate.
Nao
Developer: Aldebaran Robotics
Location: HND
Height: 2′
Nao is a humanoid robot that’s able to tell travelers the currency exchange rate or the weather forecast for their destination in Japanese, English and Mandarin. During its trial at Haneda Airport, Nao sported the same neckerchief worn by its fellow Japan Airlines crewmembers. The hope is it will join JAL’s forces in the departure hall and security check areas in the near future.
Leo
Developer: SITA
Location: GVA
Like a bellhop at a hotel, Leo, a self-service kiosk on wheels, awaits passengers outside the airport terminal to take their bags. It also checks passengers in, prints out boarding passes and bag tags, and safely shuttles luggage to the bag drop so travelers can walk to the security lanes with just their carry-ons.
Pepper
Developer: Aldebaran Robotics
Location: HND
Height: 4′
Pepper is a humanoid robot that’s adept at a variety of service jobs, from sales clerk to care provider to airport guide. It was demonstrated performing in-flight services at Disrupt SF Hackathon 2016, which was sponsored by Panasonic Avionics. Pepper informed a passenger of a gate change in Spanish and brought a drink to another after it was ordered from a mobile device.
EMIEW3
Developer: Hitachi
Location: HND
Height: 3′
EMIEW3, a humanoid robot fluent in Japanese and English, helps travelers navigate the airport by giving them instructions, showing them on a map or physically leading them to where they need to go. When someone expressed she wanted to eat sushi, for example, EMIEW3 was able to give three suggestions: a sushi stand-and-eat, a sushi-go-around and a sushi bar.
Spencer
Developer: SPENCER, Social situation-aware perception and action for cognitive robots
Location: AMS
Height: 6’4″
Spencer doesn’t speak, but it can scan travelers’ boarding passes to know which gate they need to find. It recently informed KLM customers of the remaining distance to their destination through an embedded screen and can adjust its speed so the people following it won’t fall behind. In the future, Spencer will carry bags and learn to recognize emotions.