Alan Lam reporting

Costa Group has signed an exclusive agreement, worth more than a million euros, with the French company ALDEBARAN, a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group, for the deployment of “Pepper” robots on its ships.

Pepper is the world’s first robot capable of human emotions. He is, according to Costa, “ideally suited to help and delight guests on board of cruise ships”. The group hopes that the robot will improve guest experience and provide help and entertainment on board both AIDA and Costa branded ships.

Launched in June 2014 in Japan by SoftBank and ALDEBARAN, Pepper is the first humanoid robot in the world capable of recognising main human emotions, taking its environment into account and proactively responding accordingly.  It is well equipped with features and a high-level interface for communicating with those around him, to move fluidly and analyse expressions and voice tones using the latest advances in voice and emotion recognition.

The robot has already completed an onboard trial on AIDAstella, demonstrating its seaworthiness while engaging with customers and crew.

The first batch of Peppers will join the crew on AIDAprima and Costa Diadema in Spring 2016. Their duty will be to guide guests when they embark and while onboard. They will also be on hand to provide recommendations and tips on restaurants, events and excursions. They will be able to speak German, Italian and English.

By the summer of 2016 the rest of the robots will be joining the crew aboard the Costa and AIDA fleet.

“With an emotional robot on board our cruise ships,” said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group, “we are once again continuing our tradition of innovation. For us, this is an important step towards a digital future for our brands. I am confident that our guests will love Pepper.”

“I am very happy that the Costa Group gave us this opportunity,” said Fumihide Tomizawa, President of Aldebaran and SoftBank Robotics Corp. “Pepper is built to interact with humans, their emotions and needs. We hope that it will help to improve AIDA’s and Costa’s travellers’ experience.”

Pepper in figures:

• Measures 120cm in height and weighs 28kg
• It has17 joints for graceful movements    
• Three omnidirectional wheels to move with agility
• One 3D camera for detecting people and movements
• A 10-inch touch screen