Photo: KLM
Dutch national carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is making sure you get your own personal travel assistant, one that will carry your luggage and direct you to your gate. How’s that for making those tedious airport walks more pleasant?
The travel assistant is called Care-E and it’s actually a self-driving trolley-like device that, thanks to AI, will be able to direct you to your gate. With access to data in real time, Care-E will know if your gate changes and proceed accordingly.
Care-E is stylish in KLM’s trademark blue, but it’s also cute: interacting with it doesn’t require special language skills, as it will be using universal, “familiar nonverbal sounds” to guide you through the process. These include a smiley face, which will certainly turn it into a hit with the public.
Care-E can carry luggage of up to 85 pounds. To use it, you simply have to scan your boarding pass: place the luggage on top, and the robot will proceed to escort you to your gate. The maximum speed Care-E can reach is of 3mph, which is the average walking speed of humans. In other words, it will roll beside you as you make your way through the airport, with zero effort on your part to keep up with it.
If you want, you can even stop at the duty-free shop and Care-E will be outside, waiting for you. It won’t be fetching you coffee or a sandwich, but it’s pretty much the next best thing, if you think about it.
Care-E is currently in trial mode with KLM, with plans to be used at New York’s JFK airport and the San Francisco International (SFO) airport later this year.
This is the second robot developed and deployed by KLM. Spencer was tested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, scanning boarding passes and directing passengers to the correct gates. Unlike Care-E, Spencer didn’t carry their luggage, so this is a definite step up.
Care-E is stylish in KLM’s trademark blue, but it’s also cute: interacting with it doesn’t require special language skills, as it will be using universal, “familiar nonverbal sounds” to guide you through the process. These include a smiley face, which will certainly turn it into a hit with the public.
Care-E can carry luggage of up to 85 pounds. To use it, you simply have to scan your boarding pass: place the luggage on top, and the robot will proceed to escort you to your gate. The maximum speed Care-E can reach is of 3mph, which is the average walking speed of humans. In other words, it will roll beside you as you make your way through the airport, with zero effort on your part to keep up with it.
If you want, you can even stop at the duty-free shop and Care-E will be outside, waiting for you. It won’t be fetching you coffee or a sandwich, but it’s pretty much the next best thing, if you think about it.
Care-E is currently in trial mode with KLM, with plans to be used at New York’s JFK airport and the San Francisco International (SFO) airport later this year.
This is the second robot developed and deployed by KLM. Spencer was tested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, scanning boarding passes and directing passengers to the correct gates. Unlike Care-E, Spencer didn’t carry their luggage, so this is a definite step up.
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