Munich Airport and Lufthansa have welcomed Josie Pepper, a humanoid robot, to the team.
The robot is approximately 42 inches tall and is able to assist passengers by answering questions and offering directions in Terminal 2.
The machine is currently in a testing phase.
With the rollout of Josie Pepper, Munich Airport and Lufthansa are breaking new ground: this is the first-ever test of a humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence at a German airport.
For the next few weeks, Josie Pepper will welcome travellers to the non-public area of Terminal 2, which is jointly operated by Munich Airport and Lufthansa.
In her initial deployment, Josie Pepper, who speaks English, will await passengers at the top of the ramp leading to the shuttle connecting the main terminal to the satellite building.
This test phase will be used to determine whether Josie Pepper is accepted by passengers.
Josie Pepper’s “brain” contains a high-performance processor with a WLAN internet access.
This creates a connection to a cloud service where speech is processed, interpreted and linked to the airport data.
IBM Watson Internet of Things cloud-based, artificial intelligence technologies created Josie Pepper’s capabilities.
Pepper was developed by the French company SoftBank Robotics.
The robot was given the name Josie by the staff of Munich Airport and Lufthansa when she arrived.