Incheon International Airport will officially roll out Air Star, a guide robot that provides information in the departure, duty-free and baggage pick-up areas, beginning July 21.
Air Star had been on a trial run last year, and went through some renewals on design and built-in sensors. While there have been cases of some airports introducing robots on a trial run, Air Star is the first official airport guide robot.
Air Star is 1.6 meters tall, weighs 130 kilograms, and is well equipped with a self-driving function, voice recognition program and artificial intelligence. It understands four languages—Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese—and is capable of expressing 14 different kinds of emotions.
Passengers can learn about airport facilities by making conversation, touching the screen and scanning bar codes. On the departure floor, Air Star provides directions to the check-in counter and will even take passengers there itself when asked. The passengers may also enter the flight number on the touch screen and receive the same assistance.
Air Star also knows its way around the duty-free stores and restaurants, and provides real-time flight information when the passengers scan their boarding pass. The robot can even take pictures of passengers with its built-in camera and send them through text messages or emails.
With 14 robots scheduled to be deployed between Terminal 1 and 2, Incheon International Airport is on its way to becoming a state-of-the-art smart airport with futuristic technologies.