Food deliveries by robot now on menu at Rome Fiumicino

The robot revolution continues with Rome Fiumicino International Airport (FCO) becoming the first gateway in Europe to deploy ‘Ottobot’ to deliver food and shopping to passengers at boarding gates.

The brainchild of Ottonomy.IO, Ottobot 2.0 can be found at work in the new Pier A in Terminal 1 at Rome Fiumicino.

The autonomous delivery project is said to be part of Aeroporti di Roma’s (ADRs) long-term strategy to enhance the customer experience at its airports through the use cutting edge technology and innovation.

“We chose automation as one of the topics for our first call for ideas because we truly believe in enhancing the passenger experience with a continuous improvement approach that has led FCO in its path of quality excellence and innovation since 2016,” says ADR’s vice president of innovation and quality, Emanuele Cala.

Rome International Airport has partnered with Plug & Play Tech Center, LVenture Group and PWC in the development of  ‘Runway to the future’, a programme set in the ADR Innovation Hub, which is described as the first industrial incubator inside an airport.

Ottonomy.IO is one of ten start-ups selected to take part in the Hub’s acceleration programme and has been chosen for the cutting-edge innovation it brings to the market with their proprietary indoor and outdoor autonomous robot.

Air passengers can scan a QR code to purchase F&B and retail items at the airport and get them delivered right up to the gate in a digital and completely frictionless experience.

“We are actively working with global organisations to implement our autonomous robots, this allows them to become more sustainable,” says Ritukar Vijay, CEO of Ottonomy.IO.

“We are seeing growing interest in our technology in a variety of industries including travel, retail and hospitality. The launch of Ottobot 2.0 for ADR’s acceleration programme is another milestone in the adoption of autonomous robots and how they fit into our daily lives.”

It first introduced Ottobot at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) in USA in 2021 enabling air passengers to make purchases of food items and get them delivered straight to their boarding gates from the robots.

The newest generation Ottobot 2.0 is the first fully customisable and modular robot designed for increased access for customers and directional mobility.

This Ottobot is able to navigate completely autonomously through crowds and complicated environments using Ottonomy’s proprietary navigation platform.

Learn about ADR Innovation program on www.adr.it/innovation