Athena The Robot Paid For Seat On Flight

There is no free lunch in this world, and neither are there free seats on a plane – not unless you happen to own the airline itself, or are somehow in a position where such perks are afforded to you. While humans are the ones who would fly in the cabin of an airplane, how awkward do you think it would be if a robot were to be seated right next to you instead? Perhaps that might be better if you do not like to carry out a conversation and would prefer to catch some shuteye, right? Athena the robot has created history by being the first humanoid robot to actually pay for a seat on a commercial flight.

This historical occasion was announced at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where their Twitter account did make mention that this robot would make the trip from LAX all the way to Germany across the pond, taking a Lufthansa flight. Athena is not alone, however, as there will be a couple of other scientists who would be traveling with ‘her’. Athena, by virtue of being a humanoid robot, would feature physical features that make it look like a person with a head, a pair of arms and legs, and had to go through the check-in process just like any other passenger. I wonder what kind of concessions had to be made when Athena went through the metal detector though…

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: athena