You can already do exactly the same thing by walking 50 meters farther. You scan your boarding pass; it prints your luggage tags and a receipt; you attach them and put your luggage on the conveyor belt. So all the robot really does is to save you 50 meters of schlepping your luggage. Of course, you do not have to wait on line for the robot, as it is experimental and people do not line up to use it. But if the robot were to become popular, then you would have to wait to use one, just as you have to wait to use the self-service luggage registering. The minimal added value of the robot would be greater if it could take your luggage while you are in the bus or on the train ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT! I note that the trains already cooperate for baggage checking in advance, so this should not be an issue with them. What about the bus or tram? Can the TPG also cooperate with the airport?
One issue with hearing aid interfaces might be the energy required and the impact on hearing aid battery life. Building a bluetooth interface into the hearing aid itself might be an issue for the in the ear models, and would certainly take a lot of energy. That is why an intermediate device is used which has a bluetooth interface to other devices, such as telephones, computers, etc. and a proprietary interface with the hearing aid (in my case, the effective distance of that interface is 50 cms., which must take a lot less energy than the 10m radius that bluetooth provides. The intermediate device has its own battery and is not used all the time, so the global autonomy of the system is much longer than if the hearing aid had bluetooth on board.
For people with light or moderate hearing loss, the top of the line models might be overkill. For people with severe loss, such as myself, very few models provide the power and features that make social and business life possible at all in a semi-normal way. Are the devices over-priced? Probably. But I am happy to have the competition and the research that leads to continual improvements in the technology, and that needs to be funded somehow.
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You can already do exactly the same thing by walking 50 meters farther. You scan your boarding pass; it prints your luggage tags and a receipt; you attach them and put your luggage on the conveyor belt. So all the robot really does is to save you 50 meters of schlepping your luggage. Of course, you do not have to wait on line for the robot, as it is experimental and people do not line up to use it. But if the robot were to become popular, then you would have to wait to use one, just as you have to wait to use the self-service luggage registering. The minimal added value of the robot would be greater if it could take your luggage while you are in the bus or on the train ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT! I note that the trains already cooperate for baggage checking in advance, so this should not be an issue with them. What about the bus or tram? Can the TPG also cooperate with the airport?
One issue with hearing aid interfaces might be the energy required and the impact on hearing aid battery life. Building a bluetooth interface into the hearing aid itself might be an issue for the in the ear models, and would certainly take a lot of energy. That is why an intermediate device is used which has a bluetooth interface to other devices, such as telephones, computers, etc. and a proprietary interface with the hearing aid (in my case, the effective distance of that interface is 50 cms., which must take a lot less energy than the 10m radius that bluetooth provides. The intermediate device has its own battery and is not used all the time, so the global autonomy of the system is much longer than if the hearing aid had bluetooth on board. For people with light or moderate hearing loss, the top of the line models might be overkill. For people with severe loss, such as myself, very few models provide the power and features that make social and business life possible at all in a semi-normal way. Are the devices over-priced? Probably. But I am happy to have the competition and the research that leads to continual improvements in the technology, and that needs to be funded somehow.