Pepper and Alter Ego at Stazione Marittima for Spoke 4: welcoming cruise ship passengers and inviting them to evaluate the experience
In May and June, at the Stazione Marittima in Genoa, departing cruise ship passengers met the humanoid robots Pepper and Alter Ego, together with the research team of the RAISE ecosystem and Stazioni Marittime.
The final phase of data collection is in progress for one of the research activities of Spoke 4, which involves the use of robots to improve the experience of departing passengers.
Cruise ship passengers have the opportunity to fill out an online questionnaire to evaluate their experience during the boarding phases within the Stazione Marittima.
The two humanoid robots invited passengers to fill out these questionnaires. The hypothesis is that the presence of robots can have a positive impact, stimulating users to express their point of view and evaluate the services offered in the Maritime Station, together with other aspects related to the quality of the overall boarding experience.
The experiment included three scenarios: filling in without robots, filling in with an invitation from robots and filling in with a joint invitation from robots and researchers.
The presence of robots has facilitated, in general, the collection of feedback through questionnaires, thus helping to provide the Maritime Station with useful elements to improve the quality of the service based on the comments received.
The humanoid robots involved are two: Pepper and Alter Ego. Pepper is a commercial product, while Alter Ego was entirely developed by the Italian Institute of Technology. Both, for this application, make use of Artificial Intelligence developed by the University of Genoa.
In addition to inviting passengers to fill in the questionnaires, the robots can interact with them to make their passage through the Maritime Station more pleasant, also providing suggestions and tourist information.
The researchers involved in the experiment are: Prof. Antonio Sgorbissa and Lucrezia Grassi (RICE Lab, DIBRIS, University of Genoa), Prof. Alessio Tei and Iacopo Nappi (DIEC, University of Genoa), Giampaolo Vitali, Monica Cariola and Anna Novaresio (CNR – IRCrES), Manuel Catalano (IIT), Alberto Minoia, Daniela Visora and Andrea Ferrea (Stazioni Marittime S.p.A.).
The data collection phase is being concluded successfully: in the next phase, the teams will be engaged in data analysis and in providing useful feedback to Stazione Marittima.
The May and June session represents the last and most extensive data collection session, following several days of pilot testing carried out during 2024 and 2025.
One of the significant results achieved by RAISE was, thanks to Spoke 4, bringing robotics to places of transit such as the Stazione Marittima, with the aim of improving the travel experience and, indirectly, promoting knowledge of technologies through interaction with robots and with the researchers who program them, in contexts linked to the port and the city of Genoa.
The project will continue with a further phase in which the humanoid robots will interact with passengers without the intermediation of researchers but only under the supervision of the reception staff of Stazioni Marittime.
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Alter Ego and Pepper at the Maritime Station (Genoa)
Author: Lucrezia Grassi (UniGe, Spoke 4)
Credits: UniGe, IIT, CNR-IRCrES and RAISE
