A culture guide named Persephone welcomes travellers to Greece and takes them through a famous cave in the north. The guide moves smoothly around the underground area and can talk about it in 33 languages. It can also answer 33 questions, but only in the Greek language.
Persephone is intelligent and it is a human-sized robot. The robot has been in operation for about a month at the Alistrati Cave. Persephone guides visitors through the first 150 metres of the cave that is open to the public. For the remaining 750 metres, a human guide takes over.
The idea of creating the robot guide was put forward by Nikos Kartalis, who is the scientific director at the Alistrati site. He had this idea when he saw one on television guiding visitors at an art show. Persephone was built by the National Technology and Research Foundation and cost about 139,000 dollars. "People who had visited in the past are coming back to see the robot guide," said Nikos. "Many foreign visitors couldn't believe Greece had the ability to build a robot and use it as a guide in the cave."
The robot, with a white body, black head, and two bright eyes, moves on wheels. It guides visitors to the first three of eight stops along the walkway. It can do two more stops, but it is too slow for the tour. Persephone's creators are considering ways to increase her speed. The robot begins the tour by saying, "My name is Persephone. I welcome you to the Alistrati Cave. "
Evdokia Karafera is a human guide who partners with Persephone. "It is helpful, because it speaks many languages," she said. "There's just a little delay in the touring. Most find it fascinating, especially the children, and find it interesting that it speaks many languages. Robots, at some point in the future, will take over many jobs. But I believe they cannot take the place of humans everywhere."
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