London's Gatwick Airport plans to introduce parking robot Stan to take over the responsibilities of a valet to park the cars of travelers. Its makers have tested the effectiveness in France at a couple of airports and now London will check it out and welcome it into its folds.

The airport will carry out trials later this year and the robot valets will initially be in operation for a period of three months. This will be another application of Artificial Intelligence and the authorities expect benefits to accrue by virtue of this new system because it will allow for optimum utilization of available parking space.

CNN reports London’s Gatwick Airport handled upwards of 46.1 million travelers in 2018 and the saving in space will be a major gain. The passengers have to just drive into one of the designated slots, confirm their parking reservation on a touch screen, and leave with their keys. The robot valets will take over, park the vehicle in the most appropriate location and bring it back when the owner wants it.

Gatwick Airport will set a trend

The airport is upbeat about its plans to introduce this new concept.

It will begin work on constructing the basic infrastructure to ensure that there is no obstruction in the path of the machine because it is, after all, a machine. Recently, the Gatwick Airport had dropped hints about introducing them and said it was one of many "emerging projects." CNN goes on to add success of the trials could set the ball rolling and open up opportunities of expansion.

The authorities might extend its coverage to other parking areas because space is at a premium since the number of cars far outweighs the number of parking slots available.

Robots are here to stay

According to Futurism, the arrival of robot valets at London's Gatwick Airport will be a reminder that robots are the future. These valets will ensure maximum utilization of space. Right now, the airport has 6,000 available self-parking spots and use of robots will increase this to 8,500 while the size of its parking lots will remain the same. That will be a big advantage. Robot valet Stan could become a regular sight in parking lots all over the world and invade stadiums, amusement parks, and shopping centers. There is news in the media that robots will take over floor scrubbing jobs in Walmart stores.

The fact is that robots are here to stay.

China has tested out robots who could be news anchors of the future and now robot valets are emerging.

We have to learn to interact with robots in our day-to-day activities because these devices are here to stay. Artificial intelligence is making inroads into our society.
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