SITA Lab has launched an intelligent check-in kiosk that can autonomously move to busy or congested areas in airports as required, allowing them to offer easier and faster passenger check-in services.
Named Kate, the robotic kiosk uses a wide range of data sources, including flight and passenger flow information, to identify where additional check-in kiosks are needed to reduce passenger queue times in busy check-in areas at airports.
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In addition, the moveable kiosk uses existing SITA data systems, such as Day of Operations Business Intelligence and FlightInfo API.
Several of SITA’s robotic kiosks can be either automatically or manually deployed simultaneously and information at airports in order to enable passengers to check-in quickly and smoothly.
The facilities offer greater flexibility to airports and airlines in managing peaks in passenger flow.
Also, the kiosks are able to communicate through a Cloud service to ensure that the right number of kiosks are positioned at the right place when required, making them highly responsive to changes in the airport.
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By GlobalDataThe SITA technology can be deployed anywhere inside the airport and is particularly helpful in the event of weather delays or flight cancellations, where additional kiosks can be transported from landside to airside to check-in large numbers of rebooked travellers.
In addition, the robotic kiosks offer passengers access to its easy-to-use interface to check-in and print bag tags.
SITA Lab director Renaud Irminger said: “The peak and troughs in the flow of passengers present a challenge to many airlines and airports and we have been approached by many customers requesting a solution.
“Building on SITA’s successful AirportConnect Open platform, and our previous work with robotics, KATE leverages new technologies to provide operators much more flexibility and efficiency in the way they will use their kiosks in future.”
Kate uses geo-location and obstacle avoidance technology to easily find its way and move around freely across the airport terminal avoiding bumping into people or things.
Also, the system can connect to major airline and airport systems using Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for cabling or other fixed attachments.
The kiosks will also be able to automatically return to their docking stations when they are low on power or need to be resupplied with boarding passes or bag tags.
Image: SITA’s autonomous robotic kiosk, Kate. Photo: courtesy of SITA .
