Pittsburgh International Airport\u2019s newest robot helper resembles a dog, but it would rather use its face-mounted sensors to report a mess on the airport\u2019s floor than create one of its own.<\/p>\n
East Liberty robotics outfit Skild AI designed the \u201cquadruped\u201d robot through the airport\u2019s xBridge innovation center, a kind of in-house startup incubator focused on high-tech solutions to common problems.<\/p>\n
xBridge has partnered with dozens of local technology companies since its 2020 launch, resulting in products like autonomous wheelchairs and interactive digital maps.<\/p>\n
Skild\u2019s robot is equipped with an AI-powered \u201cbrain\u201d that enables it to perform a variety of tasks instead of being limited to a specific usage like robots of old, said company engineer Robert Belle-Isle.<\/p>\n
The quadrupeds will soon monitor Pittsburgh International\u2019s air quality, check whether trash cans are full, and detect liquid spills on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobotics is at an inflection point right now, and projects like this are going to be the seedlings for what we believe will be a truly incredible future,\u201d Belle-Isle said.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh International\u2019s chief technology officer, Deepak Nayyar, said the airport will introduce four quadrupeds in the next month to begin their six-month trial period.<\/p>\n
If they are successful, the airport will consider expanding the robots\u2019 duties to autonomous food delivery and security.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to start it slow and see where we can go,\u201d Nayyar said.<\/p>\n
But first, the quadrupeds need to master the airport\u2019s layout \u2014 a learning curve for their AI brains.<\/p>\n
A test subject used its leg joints to rise from a resting position during a live demonstration on Tuesday before rolling around on its leg-wheels in search of a trash can to scan.<\/p>\n
Belle-Isle explained that the quadrupeds had wheels instead of feet because they are more energy efficient and minimize potential damage to the airport\u2019s floors.<\/p>\n
He trailed the robot as it took a few unexpected detours, weaving through the onlooking crowd using its sensors to reach its destination.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It\u2019s] decided that this is the best approach,\u201d Belle-Isle said apologetically.<\/p>\n
Still, the quadruped was able to complete its task as advertised, scanning the overflowing trash can and generating a report that the airport could use to address it.<\/p>\n
Skild\u2019s four robots won\u2019t be the only rookies at Pittsburgh International next month: Another xBridge partner, Arrow Analytics, plans to introduce its EZ-board system, which uses cameras to scan carry-on luggage and determine when a plane\u2019s bin space reaches capacity.<\/p>\n
Gate agents would then instruct passengers still in line to check their luggage, saving the time they would spend searching for nonexistent bin space, airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said.<\/p>\n
Southwest Airlines will host the system for three months.<\/p>\n
Nayyar confirmed that neither xBridge invention would replace human jobs at Pittsburgh International, even if their trials are successful enough to make them permanent fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are testing is how it will help our people to make their jobs more efficient so that they can focus on the critical aspects of it, not doing spill detection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh International Airport\u2019s newest robot helper resembles a dog, but it would rather use its face-mounted sensors to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-296426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}