Alistrati Collapse Greece has a brand new addition to its crew of tour guides – however this one is a bit completely different. Persephone, a robotic information, has simply joined her human counterparts displaying guests round this spectacular complicated of limestone caves.
Named after the daughter of the Greek god Zeus, she speaks 33 languages and guides guests by way of the primary part of the cave on an accessible walkway.
Nikolaos Kartalis, the Scientific Director of the Alistrati web site, had the concept of making the robotic when he noticed an analogous one on TV guiding guests round a gallery.
“It will possibly information in three completely different languages on the identical time and is able to answering guests’ questions,” he explains.
How does the robotic work?
The robotic was constructed by the Nationwide Know-how and Analysis Basis, 17 years after Kartalis first got here up with the concept. It price the scientific director a complete of 118,000 euros so as to add this new member to his crew.
The multilingual machine makes use of synthetic intelligence to information guests by way of the primary 150 metres of the cave earlier than handing them over to a human for the remaining 750 metres.
Though she will be able to converse to guests in 33 languages, for now Persephone’s capacity to reply questions is restricted to a collection of 33 pre-programmed questions and responses in Greek.
Evdokia Karafera, one of many tour guides partnered with the robotic, says she isn’t too fearful about her job simply but.
“[Most of the visitors say] The robotic is an attention-grabbing prototype, however it may’t change the human contact that they’ve with the human information.”
What’s the Alistrati cave?
In case you’re questioning why a robotic tour information can be named after a Greek goddess then right here’s the connection. Within the Greek legend, Persephone was choosing flowers in a subject, which some imagine was close to the Alistrati cave, when Pluto (also called Hades), God of the Underworld opened the bottom and kidnapped her to turn into his spouse.
In keeping with Nikolaos Kartalis, the Alistrati cave was formally found in 1974 by a crew of Greek and Austrian cave specialists. It first opened to guests in 1998.
The cave web site, positioned 135 kilometres (84 miles) northeast of Thessaloniki, is famend for its extraordinary array of stalactites and stalagmites.
“The cave is likely one of the most stunning caves, not solely in Greece however in the entire of Europe,” says Kartalis.
Amongst it’s vibrant array of rock formations, the cave is legendary for its heccendrites, a uncommon kind of stalactite which grows in each route and never simply downwards. These may be seen all through the primary kilometre-long part of the walkway which is designed to be accessible to folks with restricted mobility.
Watch the video above to see Persephone in motion.
