ydreams

Ferrari-red robots greet visitors to Santander Bank

Bored with your bank? Spain's Santander banking group has introduced sexy, autonomous robots to escort visitors around its lavish headquarters outside Madrid.

The sleek crimson droids, dubbed Santander Interactive Guest Assistants (SIGAs), show up once you step into the bank's opulent El Faro Visitors Center, located on a 400-acre financial campus. In the giant glass cube that serves as the entrance hall, a console with a touch-panel screen takes your destination and summons a robot via Wi-Fi. Then you're off, following your wheeled usher as it plays ambient music.

The SIGA robots operate on a multi-agent programming system designed by YDreams, a Portuguese IT company. The firm says the robo-butlers are one of the first applications of swarm robotics, the decentralized control of relatively simple machines, to a commercial setting. … Read more