On Monday, 2 December, a group of BHS students visited the Digital Innovation Center, Christchurch Airport, to experience the new digital technologies they are introducing there. These students were part of the Robotics group in the cross-curricular week. The purpose of this outing was to introduce the students to the exciting applications for robotics and virtual reality the airport is involved with, in collaboration with the University of Canterbury's Center for Entrepreneurship. This is an account of one of the students' experience:

It was sweltering outside, or at least for me, as perspiration had decided to run down my forehead. The city bus, to the Christchurch airport, disappointed us that day as it came to a squealing stop 20 minutes later than the estimated time of arrival. Anyway, the temperature inside the bus was much cooler than the outside, preventing me from fainting in the acute, rapidly rising temperature outside. I just couldn’t stop shaking my leg, as I knew nothing about the number and types of robots that droned through Christchurch city airport. 

The bus decided to stop a few hundred meters before the airport, stubbornly forcing us to get out and walk there. 'This is torture,' I thought. First the bus arrives 20 minutes late so we have to suffer in the sweltering heat (just 2 or 3 minutes before I was about to pass out), and now the bus is smirking at us, making us walk the rest of the way to Christchurch airport, in the eyes of the blazing sun. Anyway, my mind and my body had cooled down upon entering the airport, as the cold, icy breeze from the air-conditioning greeted me with utter delight. We walked through the airport, tourists and travelers admiring the BHS pride, as we met one of the lead members who contributed to the design and creation of the pepper robot. 

Yes, the Pepper Robot, a humanoid, 8 - 9 year old, highly human, interactive robot that travels across the entire airport. From tourists to travelers and little kids, all are super excited upon meeting the Pepper Bot for the first time, since the Pepper Bot is so interactive and human-like, that it feels as though you are interacting with another human being. 

The lead member gave us a talk about the functions of the Pepper Bot and how it interlaces with the future of the airport. After showing us the demonstration video of the Pepper Bot, I really couldn’t believe how much Christchurch as a city has developed technologically, and was blown away by the Pepper Bot’s demonstration. The Pepper Bot could talk and interact in both English and Chinese, it could dance, play games with another human, entertain them, provide detailed info about the airport and many other things. 

However, the new Pepper Bot wasn’t the only new tech development. The Digital team at the airport developed a virtual reality (VR) training game for the airport firefighters to train with, so big money doesn’t have to be spent on dummy planes, equipment and other resources setting up physical training sessions. Instead a new software has been developed in the VR world, for the firefighters to use, in order to conduct different scenarios of emergencies at the airport. I tried the simulator and the experience was great. I can see why firefighters can train well using the software designed for the VR world. 

Overall, the day was a great experience and I really learned a lot in regards to understanding how much Christchurch has technologically developed over the years, interlacing with the upcoming “future”. - Ritvik Sharma, Y10.