According to an announcement on December 14, 2023, Zurich Airport is adding Zulu and Charlie to its 300-strong building cleaning team for test purposes. The two service robots are from LionsBot, a Singapore-based company (www.lionsbot.com) and belong to the LEOBOTS. Oliver Bendel writes in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon: “Cleaning robots are (partially) autonomous service robots for cleaning surfaces, objects and water sources. They usually have a tangible design and resemble flat cylinders or cuboids. … There are hardly any approaches among the cleaning robots that would turn them into social robots. However, some can communicate with the owners or operators, either by means of text and images on the display or by spoken language.” (own translation) … According to Zurich Airport, Zulu and Charlie can do more than just clean areas. “They can also interact with passengers. If you scan the QR code on the device, you can select questions that the robot will answer.” (Zurich Airport, December 14, 2023) It goes on to say: “Zulu and Charlie have various sensors. These can recognize outlines, but do not create video footage. The test phase of the devices will run until mid-February. The robots are autonomous and will clean the areas on their own after a short initial phase.” (Zurich Airport, December 14, 2023) Further information is available at www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/newsroom/en/flughafen-zuerich-ag-relies-on-robot-support/ (Photo: Zurich Airport).
BY OLIVER BENDEL
