Our daily feature celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns from the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
Today’s image comes from Hyun Lee, who handles all advertising at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. It shows the airport’s newest crew member hard at work greeting travellers in typically polite Korean fashion.
But this is a crew member with a difference. It (or he or she) is a robot. And a real showstopper. Service with a human(oid) touch.
SONGS ABOUT AIRPORT ROBOTS… WELL, ABOUT ROBOTS ANYWAY
1. One of the world’s most popular robot songs is Mr Roboto by Styx. Here are some of the lyrics. We have no idea whatsoever what they mean but it sounds like it might be a smash hit at Tokyo Narita Airport duty free.
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
Mata au hi made
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto
Himitsu wo shiri tai
You’re wondering who I am (secret secret I’ve got a secret)
Machine or mannequin (secret secret I’ve got a secret)
With parts made in Japan (secret secret I’ve got a secret)
I am the modern man
2. Perhaps a reference to duty free cigarette sales? We bring you The Flaming Lips with their hit song ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’.
Oh Yoshimi they don’t believe me
But you won’t let those robots eat me
Yoshimi they don’t believe me
But you won’t let those robots defeat me
3. We kid you not, Kraftwerk’s ‘The Robots’ YouTube video has attracted 4,055,770 views. Make that 4,055,771 as we just watched it. Link the tune to a high-profile in-store promotion and you just can’t go wrong.
It goes (something) like this:
We’re charging our battery
And now we’re full of energy
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We’re functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
4. And finally, from The Moodie Davitt Report Founder Martin Moodie’s homeland of New Zealand come the priceless, peerless Flight of the Conchords and their sublime ‘Humans are Dead’.
There are no more humans.
Finally, robotic beings rule the world
The humans are dead
The humans are dead
We used poisonous gases
And we poisoned their asses
The humans are dead, The humans are dead
The humans are dead, They look like they’re dead
It had to be done I’ll just confirm that they’re dead
So that we could have fun. Affirmative. I poked one. It was dead.
