ANA goes sci-fi with translating devices at airports

Communicating with international passengers has gone high-tech in Japan as All Nippon Airways (ANA) distributes sci-fi-like interactive translators across 50 domestic airports. The hand-held devices can handle 74 languages, translating 55 into speech and 19 into text. The first devices will be featured in the lobby and at boarding gates at Osaka International Itami Airport from December 18 and the airline intends to distribute 200 of the devices around the country. READ: Festive crowds on US airlines to top 47 million. ANA has opted for the POCKETALK real-time translator, which is one of several such devices on the market and is capable of handling dialects and commonly used idiomatic phrases.

Microphones pick up what a passenger is saying and translate it into spoken Japanese for ANA staff.  The process is reversed when the staff member talks to the passenger. The airline says the device will mean staff will be better equipped to communicate with passengers in situations where linguistic barriers may have existed previously. “ANA is constantly looking for opportunities to improve the passenger’s travel experience, and that includes taking steps to make our service at airports as inclusive and convenient as possible,” said ANA senior vice president Masaki Yokai. “Our commitment to service and Japanese hospitality has inspired us to look at innovative ways to use technology to enhance the passenger experience.” ANA has been experimenting with a number of technologies, including the use of avatars, as it looks at ways to enhance the passenger experience. The Japanese carrier is investigating technology that will allow a robot controlled by a human to set up a link that will allow its operator to see, hear, feel and interact with a remote environment in real-time. Travelers would use technology such as haptic suits, virtual reality goggles and artificial reality to allow them, as ANA HD puts it, “to teleport their consciousness to remote locations”. It sees the general public shopping, enjoying sports matches and even fishing from remote locations while allowing professionals such as doctors, engineers and teachers to more widely share their expertise.