Baidu Ai Cloud Hci Lab · CLIENT: Baidu
Niro Max is a service robot designed for airports. Face recognition and natural language interaction allow the robot to assist passengers with check-in, ticket return, flight information and other questions. SLAM technology lets Niro Max move freely through the terminal and recharge without assistance. A rear compartment holds a defibrillator and a first aid kit. The shell is made of injection moulded PC and ABS, with an internal frame of aluminium and sheet metal. The aim is proactive service with lower labour costs.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- NIRO-Max is an airport service robot can perform face recognition and natural language interaction. The SLAM technology enables it “walk” freely and charge itself autonomously to assist passengers with check-in, ticket return, flight info, and other inquiries while patrol airports. The back box of it is equipped with an AED and first aid kit. It can reach out to more passengers in need and proactively provide services with a less businesses system labor costs and a higher operational efficiency.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 530mm x 500mm x 1500mm
- Tags
- Artificial Intelligence, Mobile, Service, Robot, Robotic
- Production Technology
- The shell of NIRO Max is adopted with PC and ABS injection molding, and its internal skeleton is realized with aluminum and sheet metal processes. The case is secured with buckles and screws and multiple rounds of optimization have been done to achieve rapid disassembly of it. Max presents many Baidu AI technologies including the NLP, computer vision, cloud computing, and Easy Talk. The integration of ultrasonic, infrared wave sensors and SLAM technology provides a safe guarantee for the robot.
- Design Challenge
- Based on our research, proper mimic of human and cute appearance can enhance users' willingness to interact: Instead of using black screen, we applied a white light-transmitting material and displayed digital expressions through projection on the robot face. After rounds of optimization in the areas of acoustic and mechanical design for its structure, the final design has no screw on the surface achieved an easy assemble and disassemble reducing the difficulty and cost of its maintenance.
- Project Duration
- The project was launched in Beijing in January 2019 and officially released at the Baidu Yunzhi Summit in September 2019.
At present, hundreds of Taiwan-level cooperation agreements have been signed in the government affairs scenes such as China Customs and Vehicle Administration, and part of the delivery has been completed. In addition, there are a lot of cooperation in negotiation in airports and shopping malls. - Operation Flow
- The recessed screen helps protect user privacy. The depth camera can find the user and calculate user's distance to adjust speaker volume accordingly for better privacy. Digital facial expressions increase the humanity of interacting with the robot.
Max can move, watch, listen, think and speak like a human. It can identify the main speaker in a group conversation under noisy airport environment. When a user touches it, touch sensors can sense user touch's position and direction to give feedback. - Research
- Quantitative and qualitative, user interview, case study
Research content: user preferences of robot appearance, human-robot interaction in public, robot height, Uncanny Valley.
Key finding: lack of interaction willingness, unfriendly experience
Solution: arms increase users' perception of it being intelligent for higher willingness to interact, and eyes bring a more human like feeling.
Taller than users will pose a pressure to users and cute appearance increases users’ willingness to interact. - Inspiration
- Baidu, the world's largest Chinese search engine company, also a technology company of artificial intelligence represented by robots like Max launched in business scenarios. Max is a perfect combination of high technology and supreme user experience. In 5G eras, compared to human services, service robots can assist passengers in need accurately and flexibly to provide proactive services with a less businesses system labor costs and a higher operational efficiency.
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