Hyundai, which recently bought Boston Dynamics, has just announced an interesting new robot: DAL-e-. DAL-e, which is an acronym for “Drive you, Assist you, Link with you-experience”, is a customer service robot that the company is already pilot testing and which, they claim, is designed to pioneer automated customer services.
The device was announced at the Hyundai Motor Showroom in Seoul, where the robot is already in operation. Hyundai hopes that it can be used in other situations where interaction with customers is necessary, such as other demonstrations by Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation. The robot can move and offer assistance to the participants of an event, such as taking them to a certain place or providing information about a product.
This is the new Hyundai robot
DAL-e is a semi-humanoid robot measuring 1,160 x 600 x 600 mm and weighing 80 kilograms. It is equipped with artificial intelligence to be able to recognize faces and also has an automatic communication system based on a language understanding platform. “Its objective is to offer customer service to those people who prefer not to have contact with another person due to the circumstances derived from the pandemic”, Hyundai explains.
The company explains that the robot can detect several things, such as a customer not wearing a mask, to advise him to put one on. And while talking about saying things, Hyundai assures that DAL-e is capable of “engaging in an automated and fluid dialogue with customers” to offer them information about products and services, as well as responding to verbal and tactile commands.
The robot is equipped with “friendly and emotive” facial features to interact closely with customers. At the top, it has a screen that shows the eyes and, just above the head, another screen that can serve as an information panel. On the chest, it has a third screen that, from the images, moves when the robot speaks.
DAL-e, of course, can move. On its four lower legs, it has omnidirectional wheels that allow the robot to move to a certain position, and to even accompany an attendant to the podium. The arms also move.
Hyundai says it plans to continually update DAL-e based on “data from pilot operations,” so the device will be refined as more work is done. At the moment, Hyundai has not announced any plans for commercialization, so it is likely that, at least in the first phase, it will only be possible to see DAL-e at Hyundai and KIA events.
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