The Concept
Isakwa is a robotic food cart designed to serve aircraft passengers and assist flight
attendants. It
would roll down the aisle and use state-of-the-art AI to attend to passengers’ needs.
The Background
When I was working on the
Atasha
concept, I realized it would make more sense to develop a working robotic cart before trying
to cover
everything a flight attendant does, so I asked
Martin
Rico to push the idea of inflight robotic carts a little further.
How It Works
The main function of Isakwa would be to bring food and drinks to passengers, who could
summon the
service trolleys remotely. When a passenger is requesting food or a drink, the trolley,
driven by a
quiet electric motor, would stock up in the galley, roll up next to the client, and serve
them.
The Isakwa would have an internal storage system for hot food and cold drinks. It would be
able to take
commands from tablets and phones, take payments, showcase inventory, fill up when necessary,
and serve
passengers anytime during the flight. Its extending robotic arm would be able to pass trays
to all
passengers.
The Isakwa would have an integrated OLED screen designed to display emoticons and
communicate verbally
with people using a soothing synthetic voice that always remains polite and friendly.
Cameras could be
used to detect human emotion and behaviours to read the mood of the passenger it’s serving.
It would
also alert flight attendants when a situation is getting out of hand.
What It’s Used For
Automating inflight passenger service means that flight attendants will have more time to
focus on the
passengers’ experience. For instance, flight attendants would have more time to talk with
customers and
make sure they are well taken care of, while the Isakwa takes care of with logistics
(orders, payment,
inventory, etc.).
The Designer
I would like to thank
Martin
Rico for creating the images of the Isakwa concept. Martin lives near Buenos Aires,
Argentina. He
studied Design at the University of Buenos Aires and now works as a Freelance Industrial
Designer.
Martin also designed the
Season
Chaser nomadic train and the
Zuuloo
brain-robot interface system
