It is a strange sight at Eindhoven Airport: two robots have been driving around for a week. They take travelers to the toilet, to the check-in desk or they tell a joke while waiting for the flight. “Those jokes come from the robot developer in Amsterdam. We still have to add some Brabant jokes,” says Davy Eijkens of Viggo Eindhoven Airport, who wants to test the robots for a year.
The robots find their own way in the terminal. Suitcases or waiting travelers bypass them with ease. For example, the robots named Temi tell travelers where the restaurants are. Or show you the way to the signs with flight information and the mailbox.
As soon as you enter the hall, you see them. One robot is wearing a tie and the other a scarf. “This is our male and this is our female. They get along well with each other. After a day they were talking to each other. One said, ‘How can I help you?’ and the other said, ‘Happy New Year.’ I think they have a good relationship.”
The robots speak Dutch and English. In the spring they have to speak six languages. Also German, French, Spanish and Arabic.
The robots must complement the employees already there. “We are in the Brainport region. We looked for new ways to provide services. Also because young people are flying more and more and are used to working with digital systems.” According to Eijkens, the airport is a first. “We are the first airport in Europe.”
“You can now safely let robots drive around on their own.”
Raymond Cuijpers is a human-robot researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology. He comes to see the robot. “I love it. I do my own research into robots and how they should interact with people. These are robots with eyes and gestures. They can nod ‘yes’. Technology continues to advance.”
“Five years ago, robots were expensive and fragile. If they fell or crashed into something, a team of technicians was needed to keep them working. Now you can safely let robots drive around an airport alone without fear of them bumps into people.”
According to expert Cuijpers, robots will play an increasingly important role over the years. “You will increasingly see service robots in places such as airports. In business, robots will become more important in production processes.”
“People in a nursing home will soon have a robot as a buddy.”
“In ten years’ time you will also see more robots in healthcare that will help them get through the day. They help against loneliness. People in a nursing home will soon have a robot as a buddy. They will be specially developed for that. They will be there 24 hours a day. per day. They can identify things that a caregiver cannot. In the meantime, they can provide a better quality of life by entertaining you.”
The airport robots are not there yet. Travelers who test it this morning sometimes ask questions that the robot does not understand and therefore cannot answer, such as “How long will my flight take?”.
Davy Eijkens from Viggo: “We looked in advance at which questions it should definitely be able to answer. Questions that we hear very often. If a certain question is asked a hundred times in a month, we can tell. Then we know it has to go in. We try to make them a little smarter every month.”
