Munich trials innovative robot that sells snacks and drinks

A robot, called JEEVES, is selling food and drinks to passengers at Munich Airport.

The robot wanders around the terminal and passengers stop it and buy drinks and snacks.

Jeeves sells a selection of chilled soft drinks and snacks that passengers can buy with all major credit cards or via various cashless payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The robot is called JEEVES after the star character in a series of comedic novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. In the books, Jeeves is a fine butler to an upper-class twit called Bertie Wooster (think Harry).

The airport is testing the robot for one year at Terminal 2.

How it works

At 110 centimetres tall, it’s pleasant to look at and approach. It moves autonomously through the gate area on Levels 4 and 5 in Terminal 2 at Munich Airport.

Passengers take their items from the opened drawer [Image: Munich Airport]

Passengers can stop it by going near it or stepping into its path. They then use a large touchscreen on its top to buy the snacks and take them from the drawers in the robot. Just like minibars, sensors track the items removed.

Thanks to his item tracking feature, JEEVES knows exactly how many items or how much material he has in his drawers. Before inventory starts getting low, he sends a notification that he’s due to be restocked.


MORE ABOUT MUNICH AIRPORT


Supplier

A Munich-based startup called Robotise developed JEEVES.

They specialise in commercial service robots and originally designed the snackbot for use in hotels to replace room service and minibars.

Munich Airport has a video showing JEEVES in action


Internet links

Munich Airport (MUC)

Robotise