A humanoid robot with a head, hands and
feet and also wearing stylish red sneakers
boarded a flight for Germany at the Los
Angeles International Airport on Monday,
making it the first robot traveling as a paid
passenger on an airline. Yahoo! News was
there:
The robot, named Athena, created
a scene at the Tom Bradley
International Terminal as she was
pushed in a wheelchair up to the
Lufthansa counter to pick up her
ticket to Frankfurt. Television
crews swarmed, camera flashes
went off and people aimed their
cell-phone cameras at her,
exclaiming: “It’s a robot!”
Built by the Salt Lake City
engineering and robotics company
Sarcos, Athena was purchased by
Germany’s Max Planck Society,
which along with researchers at
the University of Southern
California are trying to make her
perform tasks too dangerous for
humans, such as cleanup after the
nuclear disaster at Fukushima,
Japan.
“We don’t want humans to go
there and sacrifice their lives,” said
Max Planck doctoral student
Alexander Herzog, who was
pushing Athena through the
airport. “I would like to have a
robot achieve the same task, such
as opening up doors and cleaning
up.”
Right now, Athena can do little
more than sit and bask in
attention. The software to make
her legs move and stand is still in
the works, though her arms can
operate and her mouth glows blue
on a white head fitted with
cameras and sensors.

source: www.informationng.com