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TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 5 July 2017

Robots to aid tourists, clean floors at South Korean airport

By YOUKYUNG LEE
AP Technology Writer
INCHEON, South Korea
(AP) — Robots will start
roaming South Korea’s
largest airport this summer,
helping travelers find their
boarding gates and keep
its floors clean as the coun-
try prepares for its first Win-
ter Olympics game.
Starting this month, Troika,
a self-driving robot made
by LG Electronics, will rove
the Incheon International
Airport, telling travelers
how long it takes to get
to boarding gates and es-
corting them to their flights.
A jumbo cleaning robot will
help cleaning staff swab
the wide expanses of floors
in the airport west of Seoul.
Troika, about the size of a
young teen, is equipped
with a rectangular display
on its front that looks like a
giant smartphone screen
and can show flight infor-
mation, an airport map
and weather data. Its
partly rounded head has a
flat touchscreen face that
displays blinking or smiling
eyes or information.
The guiding bot responds
to its name. In this April 10, 2017 photo, Amethyst Ma, left, from San Jose, California, talks with Troika, a self-driving robot made by LG Electronics,
at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea.
Travelers can insert their Associated Press
tickets into its scanner to
get flight information, and bot competitions. In 2015, Korea Airports Corp., which carry cargo. nese, Kim said. However
Troika will then ask if they South Korea’s Team KAIST operates 15 international South Korea expects the the robot can only perform
want to be escorted to beat the U.S. and Japan airports in South Korea but robots to burnish its reputa- a few simple tasks it has
their gates, warning lag- to win the DARPA Robotics not Incheon airport, also tion as a technology leader been programmed to car-
gards to “Please stay clos- Challenge with a human- has teamed up with local when the country hosts the ry out.
er so I can see you.” oid that completed tasks companies to introduce 2018 Winter Olympics in Py- During a recent test run it
Troika’s debut piqued the without losing balance. But air-purifying robots to mea- eongChang. failed to recognize some
interest of many in the air- South Korea has been slow sure air quality and clean But its maker LG is still work- voice commands, such
port. Heads swiveled and to introduce human-like ro- terminals. ing out the kinks. as when Amethyst Ma of
children approached with bots or interactive robots Incheon International Air- Troika can recognize its lo- San Jose, California, asked
curiosity as the 140-cen- in public places like hotels port Corp. said in a state- cation inside the airport ter- how she and her kids could
timenter (4 foot 6 inch) or stores, unlike its neigh- ment that it does not ex- minal and navigate around catch a bus to the city.
robot with its white body boring Japan where Soft- pect the robots to replace passers-by and obstacles, Still, such machines could
and black screens glided bank’s humanoid Pepper is human workers, but just to said Kim Hyoungrock, the be quite useful for overseas
through the terminal. no stranger. help, especially with over- chief research engineer at travelers, Ma said.
Robotics is gaining ground Incheon International Air- night shifts and physically LG Electronics who over- “It’s becoming common
in South Korea, where port Corp. believes it is demanding tasks. saw the robot’s develop- in a lot of public places
many big businesses are the first to introduce such Future plans include de- ment. so that’s why I came to it
automating factory pro- service-oriented robots ploying robots to advise It’s meant to be a fast right away,” she said. “It’s
duction lines. South Kore- in a South Korean pub- travelers about items that learner: By July, Troika will a source of information, es-
an researchers have won lic space. Another state- are banned on flights, serve be speaking English, Ko- pecially if we don’t speak
awards in international ro- owned airport operator, food in airport lounges and rean, Chinese and Japa- the local language.”q