Incheon International Airport has chosen LG to introduce artificially-intelligent robots to provide a series of services for passengers.
A total of 14 robots will replace human information guides and can recognize and process orders given in various languages.
They will be able to give information to passengers about the airport including departure gates and baggage counters. By reading a passenger’s boarding pass, they can escort them to a boarding gate.
Supplier
The airport chose LG CNS and LG Electronics to design and build the robots and a system to control them. LG Electronics build the robots and LG CNS will establish the wireless control system that controls them.
The robot service platform will be connected with the airport internal systems to provide various services. The system will be able to locate robots and move them according to the need.
LG already supplied five cleaning robots and five guide robots in a pilot program this year. LG also set up a trial at Seoul’s Incheon Airport in mid 2016.
Timing
Some AI-powered robots will go into pilot operation during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February 2018 and all 14 are expected to be in use in June next year.
The number of robots trialed at airports (and ports) is increasing and includes:
- AnBot at Shenzhen Airport
- ASIMO at Tokyo Narita
- Athena at Los Angeles
- EMIEW3 at Tokyo Haneda
- GLAdys at Glasgow
- Nao for Japan Airlines at Tokyo Haneda
- Leo at Geneva
- Norma, Amelia, and Piper at San Jose
- Pepper for EVA at Taipei
- ‘Sheldon’ at Indianapolis
- Spencer at Amsterdam Schiphol
- Unnamed at Seoul Incheon
- Zunpeng Xiaobao for Shenzhen Airlines
Our favourites remain AnBot at Shenzhen Airport with the cattle prod and the Sheldon Cooper lookalike at Indianapolis. Pepper in Taipei is also looking good.
N.B. Image credit: LG CNS
