The robot can give its part of the tour in 33 languages and interact at a basic level with visitors in three languages. The robot was named Persephone because, according to one version of the ancient Greek myth, it was in a nearby plain that Pluto - the god of the underworld who was also known as Hades - abducted Persephone, with the consent of her father Zeus, to take her as his wife.
In the remaining 750 meters (2,400 feet), a human guide takes over. The multilingual robot covers the first 150 meters (roughly 500 feet) of the part of the cave that is open to the public.
ALISTRATI, Greece (AP) - Persephone is a tour guide in Greece, but perhaps not the type people are used to.īilled as the world's first robot tour guide inside a cave, Persephone has been welcoming visitors since mid-July to the Alistrati Cave in northern Greece, 135 kilometers (84 miles) northeast of the city of Thessaloniki.