Vistara launches India’s first Robot RADA

Airline Vistara today said that it has created a unique robot using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

The Robot RADA will answer customer's queries and entertain them, Vistara said.

During its initial stage, RADA will be placed at Vistara's Signature Lounge at Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 from July 5, 2018, to assist customers using the lounge before they board their flights.

'RADA' will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback, Vistara informed.

Vistara's Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Ravinder Pal Singh: "We thought of inventing a robot that can help us enhance the customer experience by gradually taking over the routine, mundane tasks. The basic premise of the thought was to develop a simple and extremely cost-effective practical robot that can engage in basic human interaction to begin with, and can further be developed to perform more complex tasks, as consumer habits continue to evolve in the technological age where humans and machines will complement and create an evolved harmonious evolution."

At present the robot can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of the destination city, real-time flight status as well as information about Vistara's products and services, Vistara informed further.

It greets customers and interacts with them using basic hand movements, and is capable of moving around in the lounge on predefined pathways.

Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos.

According to Vistara 'RADA' is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and it has three inbuilt cameras for cognitive interaction.

Vistara's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Leslie Thng said: "With RADA, we aim to change the way people interact and fly with an airline. We will be developing 'RADA' based on customer feedback and equipping it with the most effective features in the time to come. Our steadfast focus remains to be on delighting customers across all touchpoints, and we're confident that 'RADA' will help us take the 'new feeling' to the next level.