KLM’s Care-E robot carries your suitcase with all your love
KLM wants to embrace the technology of the future and therefore launches this summer a robot that can carry your luggage. The robot has the non-subtle name Care-E and also looks like it is from a Pixar movie. Or rolled, actually: the robot is a kind of mini self-driving car. He is connected to the information system of an airport and that ensures that once your suitcase is picked up and Care-E knows where to go that should always be right, even if the gate changes.
The incredibly cute robot should be able to find its own way in an airport, as it is equipped with a Lidar sensor and a number of ultrasonic sensors that together ensure that the robot can avoid people and other obstacles while traveling to the gate with your hand luggage. Airports are of course ideal for a robot like this, because the routes are simple, clear and especially flat.
For the time being just dragging it yourself
The video that KLM has made makes things more than likely a lot better than the use of Care-E in reality. That will show if the robot will be tested from this month in (where else) San Francisco. Afterwards, testing is done at JFK in New York. There is only one Care-E and, as KLM emphasizes, this is a concept of how travelers can be helped in the future.
There are also some questions about the concept. Care-E is certainly not vandal-proof yet, because who will stop you from taking a suitcase from a Care-E while driving past? How do you ensure that people do not put their children on those things or try to climb it themselves? In any case, the design is really cool and if the eyes can be made just as expressive as in the video, it would not be surprising to see whole groups of Care-E’s driving around at airports all over the world in a few years.