Would you let an AI robot pilot your plane?

SEOSAN: South Korean researchers have developed an advanced humanoid pilot robot called ‘PIBOT’, which can understand flight manuals and operate the full process of flight using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

The research team, led by electrical engineering professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), David Hyunchul Shim, said PIBOT is the world’s first humanoid pilot based on Large Language Model (LLM) technology, that allows the robot to comprehend human pilot manuals written in general language.

“(Conventional autopilot) can only a control the speed, altitude, or bearings, but our pilot robot PIBOT can manage everything in the airplane including turning on and off the engines and fly the airplane, take off crews and land, everything,” Shim told Reuters.

In emergency situations, the pilot robot can respond quickly without panic and calculate safe route, as it can recall aircraft operation manuals and Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) procedures immediately, by using ChatGPT technology.

For precise operation, PIBOT has cameras on its face, arms and on the front of its body to help identify and manipulate various switches with robotic arms in vibrating environments and to detect the inside and outside situation of the aircraft. The robot also can memorize the entire Jeppesen navigation charts, which is impossible for a human pilot.

The research team tested PIBOT in a flight simulator and it performed the full process: from turning on the engine, taxing, taking off, cruising and landing. The team is now working towards testing PIBOT in a real light aircraft in the next few years.

Shim added that the approximately 160-centimetre-tall and 65-kilogramme human-sized PIBOT can potentially be seated in not just airplanes, but in various vehicles including cars, tanks, excavators, and submarines and manipulate the gadgets without any modification.