Robots are already employed in hospitality industry and ticketing. The first instance of a robot working onboard a cruise ship will be the popular Japanese robot Pepper. It is shipping out on Costa Cruises’ Costa Diadema and AIDAprima starting in 2016.
Pepper is a child-sized robot designed by SoftBank Mobile to interact with humans by moving on wheels, speak autonomously and to understand human facial expressions and emotions. He has been deployed in SoftBank’s Japanese stores and Nescafe has ordered 1,000 units to staff Japanese sales outlets for Nespresso coffee machines.
Pepper can make a joke and look up the weather forecast, but cannot yet clean staterooms or move luggage. The first batch of 1,000 units priced $1,600 plus was sold out in under a minute.
A Costa Cruises spokesperson told media that Pepper is expected to join crews across the company’s entire fleet by next summer.
Source: Robotics Trends
