(Credit: Kentaro Takahashi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Humanoid and animal-like robots” now rank as machina non grata at United Airlines.
The Chicago-based carrier updated its "dangerous items list" last week to ban passengers from taking those non-human companions on flights, whether they have their own seat or get tucked into the baggage hold.
That clause of United’s policy defines each category in duck-test phrasing: “A humanoid robot is an artificial intelligence-driven or remote-controlled machine that mimics how a human looks, moves, thinks, and speaks,” while “An ‘animal-like robot’ is an artificial intelligence-driven or remote-controlled machine that looks and behaves like an animal.”
The change did not get much, if any, public attention at first, but Live and Let’s Fly blogger Matthew Klint flagged it on Monday, citing internal communication from the airline and longstanding flight-safety concerns about the fire risks posed by lithium-ion batteries in robots and many other gadgets. Years ago, that risk assessment led airlines to ban people from checking in “smart” luggage unless they removed the rechargeable batteries from those connected bags.
United, an early adopter of AI and other forms of automation, confirmed that this rule is driven by safety considerations. “We no longer allow humanoid and animal-like robots in the cabin or as checked baggage,” spokesman Charles Hobart said in an email. “Yes, these devices often use batteries that we do not accept on board or in checked baggage, and we believe this change will help further ensure the safety of our customers and crews.”
Smaller robots may still fly; the new policy mentions “small toys and gadgets” if they meet United’s other safety rules. The most important criteria in this context govern batteries: A device’s lithium-ion battery can’t hold more than 100 watt-hours. If it has two, their combined capacity can’t exceed 160 watt-hours, and any device with three or more will have to stay grounded.
So, while a full-size version of Star Wars’ C-3PO (or a Tesla Optimus robot, should it ever reach commercial reality) would be right out, you might be able to carry on a smaller R2-D2 if its battery was small enough or wasn’t lithium-based.
United is the third major US airline to restrict robots. Southwest Airlines, which has also been more aggressive than its competitors in restricting power banks, added its own ban on “human-like” and “animal-like” robots in May.
The proximate cause of that appeared to be the owner of a robot-rental studio in Dallas, Aaron Mehdizadeh, bringing a compact humanoid robot nicknamed Stewie on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Dallas. Despite what Mehdizadeh described in a post on X as extensive efforts to comply with Southwest’s then-published rules, including equipping Stewie with a battery “just under the legal limit” and then buckling in that bipedal bot like any other passenger, the Dallas-based airline was evidently not amused.
Delta Air Lines quietly followed suit a month later, revising the “Automotive, Household & Personal Electronic Items” category of its restricted-items rules to add “any robots designed to resemble or imitate a human or animal in appearance, size, movement or behavior, in the cabin or as checked baggage.”
A Delta spokesperson said this change went into effect June 18. As at United, it allows for toy robots that comply with the airline’s existing battery-transport rules.
While commercial aviation may be cooling on the idea of robots as cargo, self-loading or otherwise, the industry does not appear to harbor any general resentment toward "clankers" or be possessed by the FCC’s recent angst over snooping by imported robots.
Tokyo’s Haneda Airport is now testing humanoid baggage-handling robots, some manufacturers of “ground support equipment” like aircraft tugs are developing automated versions of them, and many of United’s airport lounges already feature wheeled robots that glide back and forth to collect plates, utensils, and glasses from guests.
Editors' Note: We updated this post to add information about Delta's robot ban.
About Our Expert
Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in computers, gadgets, apps, services, telecom, and other things that beep or blink. He’s covered such developments as the evolution of the cell phone from 1G to 5G, the fall and rise of Apple, Google’s growth from obscure Yahoo rival to verb status, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe forums to Facebook’s billions of users. Pegoraro has met most of the founders of the internet and once received a single-word email reply from Steve Jobs.
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