NOMADIC LIFESTYLE ROBOTS
NOMADIC LIFESTYLE ROBOTS & DRONES Since July 21, a pilot project by LG has seen a number of Airport Guide Robots and Airport Cleaning Robots assisting travellers arriving and departing Korea via Incheon International Airport. The Airport Guide Robot roams the airport providing information and assistance to visitors, while the Airport Cleaning Robot will be on hand to keep the floors impeccably clean. Equipped with LG’s voice recognition platform, the Airport Guide Robot understands questions in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese – the four most popular languages spoken at MEET SANBOT NANO, AN AI ROBOT FOR THE HOME Qihan Technology Company has chosen IFA as the launch pad for Sanbot Nano, a home assistant robot. Sanbot Nano stands at 2.7 feet tall and is equipped with over 50 sensors. It is equipped with numerous advanced features for the home, including: » HALL 7.1a / Stand 101 KEY SELLING POINTS 1 Voice Assistance With Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, Sanbot Nano can order pizza, request a car, track fitness stats, control the TV and play music from today’s leading streaming providers. 2 Smart Home Control Sanbot Nano pairs with smart home devices from the world’s most popular connected home brands, enabling families to control lights, thermostats and home appliances. Robots Take Over Korea’s Incheon Airport Visitors to Seoul get a friendly welcome from artificial hosts the airport, in order to provide assistance. The robot can connect to the airport’s central server to provide information regarding boarding time and locations of restaurants, shops, and other key features at the airport. With a quick scan of a boarding pass, the Airport Guide Robot can even escort the late or lost traveller to the right departure gate on time. The Airport Cleaning Robot detects areas that require the most frequent cleaning, stores those locations in its database and calculates the most efficient routes to get there. With these airport robots, LG is underlining its initiative to develop and expand its commercial robot business as a future growth engine. Currently, LG’s robot business is divided into two sectors: 3 Remote Surveillance QIHAN’s mobile Q-Link App allows families to live-stream video and control Sanbot Nano from anywhere in the world. When the family is away, Sanbot will monitor the house using object detection sensors and sound an alarm if an intruder is discovered. home and commercial. LG’s home robots include the HOM-BOT vacuum cleaner and the new Hub Robot while LG’s commercial business consists of robots specially designed to provide services in public areas such as airports, hotels and banks. “LG is dedicated to the advancement and development of its robot technologies, which includes navigation, voice recognition, natural language processing, and of course, DeepThinQ,” said Song Dae-hyun, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solutions Company. “It is this kind of effort and innovation that will drive LG forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Erik Derycke Editor of Shoot, a photography magazine based in Belgium. Shoot is a member of EISA, the European Imaging and Sound association WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN DRONES Drones have quickly evolved from a niche hobby into ubiquitous devices. Earlier generations of these incredible flying machines required considerable skill from the operator. Advances in autopilot software and automatic obstacle avoidance have changed that forever: anyone can fly a drone today (whether you're allowed to is still a matter of national legislation, though). The addition of artificial intelligence will make drones even easier to fly. Just plot the desired flight path, and the drone will fly on its own. This will also enable drones to fly in low-visibility circumstances – essential for missioncritical and commercial applications. For camera-equipped drones, UHD/4K has rapidly become the standard for video. At IFA you can expect to see amazing hi-res footage captured from high above the ground. On the still image side, earlier this year pioneer DJI and iconic camera maker Hasselblad announced an astounding 100-megapixel drone imaging platform with exciting possibilities for landscape photography, surveying, and mapmaking. At the other end of the spectrum, miniature “selfie drones” that fit into your shirt pocket may spell doom for the much-maligned “selfie stick”. Indeed, why carry a camera on a clumsy stick when you can launch one from the palm of your hand and have it take your picture all by itself? www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 1 st September 2017 49
