Costa Diadema Welcomes Pepper, The Humanoid Robot Able To Interact With Guests
Onboard Costa Diadema, flagship of the Costa Cruises fleet, was presented Pepper, the first robot in the world able to recognize main human emotions and proactively interact with the surrounding environment.
Starting from today, five Pepper robots will be operative on all 7-day cruises of the Costa’s flagship in the Western Mediterranean: their task will be to entertain guests, making their on board experience even more unique and unforgettable.
This innovation, unique in the cruise industry, is the result of an agreement signed between the Italian cruise company and SoftBank Robotics (formerly Aldebaran), part of SoftBank Group, announced late last year.
Launched in 2014 in Tokyo, Pepper is well equipped with features and a high-level interface for communicating with those around him, using the latest advances in voice and face recognition. Onboard Costa Diadema, Pepper is able to speak 3 different languages ‹‹- Italian, English and French – so to better interact with the Costa’s international clientele.
Costa Diadema’s guests can meet the robots in 5 areas of the ship. In addition to answering to direct questions addressed to him, Pepper is able to drawing attention and starting an interaction when people come close to him. His funniest features are linked to entertainment: Pepper can dance with guests, involve them in games or propose to take souvenir selfies posing.
As well as make people smile, the robots are able to provide guests with very useful information for their holiday concerning the ship and the onboard services, such as those about restaurants and bars, excursions, activities program, spa and shops. He is also able to provide guidance about destinations included in the cruise itinerary, that in the case of Costa Diadema are Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma, Cagliari and Civitavecchia. Finally, Pepper can ask guests for their opinion about the cruise experience and the main onboard services.
Following this trial on Costa Diadema, from September 2016, another one will take place with 5 more Pepper robots on board Costa Fascinosa, another ship of the Costa’s fleet that offer 7-day cruises in the Mediterranean.
