Athena can't walk but becomes the First ROBOT to buy a seat on plane on a transatlantic flight

It’s quite common for celebrities to cause a stir as they board flights in Los Angeles, but a very different kind of passenger excited paps at the airport today.

Athena became the first humanoid robot to have paid for a seat on a passenger plane when it boarded a Lufthansa flight to Germany.

The robot even had to check-in and collect its tickets before being strapped into the flight.

Athena was created by PhD student Alexander Herzog and his colleague Jeannette Bohg.

The pair is taking Athena to the Max Planck Institute for Computational Learning and Motor Control Laboratory in Germany to program it how to walk.



“Athena” (for that is her name), is a full-sized humanoid and was sporting a fetching pair of red baseball boots along with a white T-shirt.

She didn't seem to be wearing any trousers though, which we’re pretty sure would prevent any of us from being allowed on a plane.

Don't be mistaken for thinking that Athena will be living a charmed, jet-setting life though.

It had a passport and ticket, and had to go through the usual security procedures as its fellow human passengers before boarding flight number 9801 from LAX to Frankfurt.

Obviously she wasn't able to go through the metal detector before boarding the plane, but she was subjected to an electronic pat-down, according to a spokesperson for the airport.

Once she was on board and strapped in, Athena was switched off for the duration of the flight.

Which definitely makes her the perfect person to sit next to on a long haul flight.


Music : Hidden Agenda by Kevin MacLeod
Source : Mirror , DailyMail

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