Panasonic Holdings, Mashap, and Narita International Airport are testing a mobile robot vending service called PIMTO in Tokyo Narita Airport’s Terminal 1. The vending service will circulate the terminal and offer souvenir-related goods such as sweets and local items to passengers.
This mobile robot was first tested back in March for 10 days, also in Narita’s Terminal 1. The current testing period is from July 29 to August 10.
The robot will be in service from 10:00 to 18:00 every day. Travelers can make payments by credit cards and other cashless options.
Passengers can find this robot in the North Wing of Terminal 1. That includes gates 11 to 18 and 21 to 27. It will be going back and forth between the two areas.
This area is mostly served by airlines with flights to other parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, China Southern, and others. ZIPAIR also operates out of these gates for all of their flights, including to the US. Aeromexico and KLM depart from here as well.
These gates at Narita don’t have a ton of shops and restaurants around them, so this robot could provide an opportunity for last-minute gift purchases. From the perspective of these businesses, I think it’s a chance to reach out to more customers awaiting departures, especially at an airport where retail is mostly squashed into a few places in the terminal. Moving vending services also get the “Wow, what’s that? Let’s check it out” reaction from customers, which can add to the purchases.
Featured image by Narita International Airport.
