Passengers arriving at Geneva airport in the recent past have received help with their bag drop from Leo, an innovative baggage robot developed by air transport IT provider SITA, which has been trialled outside the airport’s Terminal 1.
Leo is a fully autonomous, self-propelled baggage robot that has the capacity to check in, print bag tags and transport up to two suitcases with a maximum weight of 32 kilogrammes. It also has an obstacle avoidance capability and can navigate in a high-traffic environment, such as an airport.
As such, Leo provides a glimpse into the future of baggage handling that is being explored by SITA Lab - and is the first step to automating the baggage process from the moment passengers drop their bags to when they collect them. Using robotics and artificial intelligence, bags will be collected, checked in, transported and loaded on to the correct flight, without ever having to enter the terminal building or be directly handled by anyone other than the passengers themselves.
How does this robot work? Touching Leo’s Scan&Fly bag drop interface opens the baggage compartment doors to allow passengers to place their bags inside. After the passengers have scanned their boarding passes, the tags are printed and can be attached to the bag. With the bags loaded and tagged, the compartment door closes and Leo displays the boarding gate and departure time.
Leo then takes the bags directly to the baggage handling area where they are sorted and connected to the correct flight. The doors of the robot can only be reopened by the operator unloading the baggage in the airport.
The use of robots such as Leo means that in future fewer bags and trolleys will enter the airport terminal, thereby reducing congestion and making airport navigation easier.
