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Airport Robots Will Check Your Bags, Park Your Car

Around the world, travel-friendly bots are being used for everything from retrieving your luggage to guiding you to your gate.
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Courtesy Yotel

News flash: Robots are real, and not just in a Jetsons, Terminator, or terrorizing-your-town kind of way. They're here, and have all of the qualities you'd want in a best friend—friendly, helpful, efficient, and totally not creepy. Here's how they're making your travel experience easier.

CHECKING YOUR BAGS

If you’re not a big fan of waiting in line to check your luggage, you may be in luck. At Geneva Airport's Terminal 1, you can drop off your luggage with Leo, a robot that will safely take your suitcases to the baggage dock all by himself—all you have to do is scan your boarding pass, strap the label around your luggage, and drop your bags into the robot’s secure baggage compartment. And while the thought of leaving your precious goods in the hands of a robot can be unsettling, it’s actually pretty safe. Leo’s baggage compartment can only be opened by authorized personnel, and after you drop off your bags he goes directly to the luggage dock so that your gear gets on the right plane. Even better? Leo, named after innovator Leonardo da Vinci, can carry as many as two bags and can support a total weight of 70 pounds.

PARKING YOUR CAR

When is parking your car at the airport ever fun? Maybe—maybe—at Dusseldorf Airport, where they've installed "Ray" the robot to act as valet. No more looking for your car over miles of anonymous hoods! No more handing over your keys! Just drive into one of the airport’s six “futuristic transport” boxes, and your car will be scanned for its measurements, photographed, and then parked by what resembles a giant forklift—yep, this is Ray.

RETRIEVING YOUR LUGGAGE

At the Yotel New York pod hotel, a robot named Yobot will do much of the leg—er, armwork—for you. As an enormous, interactive “arm,” Yobot retrieves and delivers luggage from any of the 150 bins where guests store their bags. You use a touchscreen to select your locker, then watch as your bags are transported. Just think of it as a giant arcade game, only you're guaranteed to get something you actually want.

Jenn Williams, marketing manager for the hotel, says thinking creatively about the hotel’s core identity helped them decide to develop Yobot with MFG Automation. “We are constantly looking for ideas that reflect our brand but are also useful and serve a purpose, so we decided to introduce a non-traditional approach to luggage management—in a fun and efficient way." This holiday season, Yobot also plays Santa, stocking certain vaults with gifts—including round-trip JetBlue travel certificates, two-night stays at the New York hotel, and rolling luggage, which guests can receive if they randomly select the correct storage container. Choose wisely.

A modern butler of sorts, Dash delivers snacks and toiletries.

Courtesy Savioke

BRINGING YOU SNACKS

Bid farewell to those Do Not Disturb signs: In Silicon Valley, robots have been dispatched to hotels to deliver snacks and toiletries, which means no more knocks on the door or fears that you’ll be caught in your underwear by a butler. At the Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley, a three-foot-tall robot named Dash whisks through the hotel and phones guests when he's waiting outside the door. Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke, the robotics startup that outfitted the hotel with the robot, says the time for robots is now.

“For decades, robots have been too complex, too expensive, and not safe enough to co-exist in human environments,” says Cousins. “Through a combination of advances in robotics software, and the drop in costs for robotic hardware and components, those objections have disappeared. The time has finally come when robots are going to be at our beck and call, and in the hospitality industry we mean that quite literally.” So far, the method seems to be working: Savioke reports that their robots crossed the 10,000-room delivery mark over the Thanksgiving holiday.

STAFFING YOUR HOTEL

Much of what can make or break a hotel experience is the geniality, resourcefulness, and accommodation of the staff. But with efficiency and the trials of human error in mind, hotels around the world have started to toy with the idea of staffing up with robots instead of humans. (Uh oh.) For around $12, you can sleep in a snug pod at the space-themed Pengheng Space Capsules in Shenzhen, China, which has robots playing everything from receptionist to butler. For $80, you can spend the night in Japan’s Henn-na Hotel, which has an English-speaking dinosaur at reception, a robot porter, and another to help you turn off the lights. No word yet on whether they’ll tuck you in at night.

Spencer during his trial run at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

Courtesy LASS Laboratoire

NAVIGATING THE AIRPORT

Another common problem for travelers: getting turned around at an unfamiliar airport. When KLM Royal Dutch Airlines realized that lost passengers were incurring delay costs at Amsterdam's airport, it sought an alternative solution for those confused by airport maps or stuck in long lines waiting to ask a simple question: Where’s my gate, and how do I get there? The answer came in electronic form—Spencer. A 6'2" robot with external cameras, sensors, and laser beams to help him measure distances, dodge wheeled suitcases, and avoid parked luggage trolleys, Spencer comes with an internal map of the airport and is tasked with leading travelers to their gate. Just enter your flight info on Spencer’s tummy touchscreen, and off you go. Spencer will officially debut in March 2016, and Achim Lilienthal, one of the project leaders, says he isn’t quite sure yet where Spencer will end up—only that it is “most likely” that the robot won’t stay in Amsterdam, where he recently underwent his first real-world trial run. Keep an eye out for a friendly robot near you.

This article was originally published in December 2015. It has been updated with new information.