Costa Cruises appoints robot staff
It might seem like the plot of a science fiction film, but it seems as though Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises are embracing the latest cyborg technology to help passengers.
From Spring 2016, Costa and AIDA will employ humanoid robots on-board their ships.
Costa has an exclusive agreement (said to be worth over a million Euros) to use Pepper, the world’s first robot that has been designed to read and interpret human options.
Pepper is fitted with four mics, two HD cameras, 3D sensors, touch sensors in the head and hands and can interpret human emotions by analysing variations in expressions and voice tones.
The first batch of robots will be introduce on the AIDAprima and Costa Diadema in Spring, with the rest of the robots to be rolled out across the fleet by the rest of summer.
Technophobes needn’t fear the possibility of a robot uprising however.
Instead of steering or doing anything that you’d want a human to be doing, Pepper is on hand to provide tips on restaurants, events and excursions and can communicate in multiple languages.
Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group said: "With an emotional robot on board our cruise ships we are once again continuing our tradition of innovation. For us, this is an important step towards a digital future for our brands. I am confident that our guests will love Pepper".
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen robots on the high seas however.
Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class of ships already feature robot bartenders and the line introduced robot dance shows at Cafe 270 on both Anthem and Quantum of the Seas.
And while a robot greeting staff might not be everybody’s cup of tea, you have to agree that it’s a nice little novelty to add to Costa Cruises offering. And on the plus side you don’t have to worry about the robot greeters taking all the prawns away at the ship’s buffet at dinner.
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