She is 120 centimeters tall, acccording to her creators has “sparkling, round eyes and a pleasant voice”, and from today she will be on duty in T2 to help passengers on their journeys.

Whether it is directions to a gate or the location of a certain restaurant or shop, Josie Pepper is on hand to “promptly” answer your questions.

Munich Airport and German national flag carrier, Lufthansa, claim to be breaking new ground as it is the first-ever test of a humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence at a German airport.

They say: “For the next few weeks, Josie Pepper will welcome travellers to the non-public area of Terminal 2, which is jointly operated by Munich Airport and Lufthansa.

“In her initial deployment, Josie, who speaks English, will await passengers at the top of the ramp leading to the shuttle connecting the main terminal to the satellite building.

“This test phase will be used to show whether Josie Pepper is accepted by passengers.”

Josie Pepper’s ‘brain’ contains a high-performance processor with a WLAN internet access, explains Munich Airport.

“This creates a connection to a cloud service where speech is processed, interpreted and linked to the airport data,” says Munich Airport.

“What sets the system apart? When this robot type speaks, it does not just deliver pre-defined texts. With its ability to learn, it answers each question individually.

“Just like a ‘real’ brain, the system gets steadily better at combining questions with the relevant information to provide more precise replies.”

IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) cloud-based, artificial intelligence technologies are behind Josie Pepper’s capabilities.

Pepper was developed by the French company SoftBank Robotics.

She was apparently given the name of Josie by airport and airline staff when she arrived at the airport.

source : https://tinyurl.com/y78l2pqu