Southwest Airlines Just Banned Humanoid Robots From Flights
Two robots walked onto Southwest Airlines planes. Neither made it past the incident report stage without causing a commotion. Now Southwest has a formal policy and the robots are grounded.
The Dallas-based carrier has officially banned "human-like" and "animal-like" robots from its flights — in the cabin, as checked baggage, any configuration. The policy applies regardless of size. Southwest defines a human-like robot as any robot designed to resemble or imitate a human in appearance, movement, or behavior. Same logic for animal-like robots. Regular toy robots are still fine as long as they fit in a carry-on bag and meet battery restrictions.
The stated reason is the lithium-ion batteries used to power humanoid robots and the fire risk they pose in flight.
How We Got Here
It started with Stewie.
Earlier this month Aaron Mehdizadeh, founder of The Robot Studio in North Dallas, bought a 3.5-foot humanoid robot named Stewie his own seat on a Southwest flight. He outfitted Stewie with a smaller battery specifically so they could get through security. By his account, most passengers found the whole thing delightful.
"Most people were very excited to see a robot flying and provided so much entertainment," Mehdizadeh said.
Two days after that flight, Southwest issued a companywide safety alert and the new policy was born.
Stewie had thoughts. In a programmed voice response to CBS News Texas the robot said — "It's a total conspiracy. I swear they don't want us robots peeking at the clouds, seeing what's really up there. My dreams got clipped faster than a bad haircut."
The second incident happened on April 30 when Eily Ben-Abraham of Dallas-based Elite Event Robotics brought a robot named Bebop on a flight from Oakland to San Diego. The plane was delayed nearly an hour after crew became concerned about Bebop sitting next to an aisle — a violation of carry-on policy for large items. After moving it to a window seat, the crew then flagged the batteries. Southwest determined the lithium battery exceeded the maximum allowable size and asked for it to be removed.
The Battery Debate
Mehdizadeh pushes back on the battery justification. He says the battery Stewie uses is essentially the equivalent of a laptop battery — the same thing thousands of passengers carry onto flights every day without incident.
"It's not a battery policy because the battery we used is essentially a laptop battery," he told CBS News Texas.
He's not giving up on getting the policy reversed. For now, The Robot Studio's fleet is grounded and Mehdizadeh is hoping Southwest reconsiders.
"We were all just laughing at the absurdity of it. The robot wasn't causing any issues," he says. "It's small. It doesn't take up much of the seat."
Southwest isn't budging yet. Somewhere in North Dallas, Stewie is looking out a window that isn't at 30,000 feet, dreaming of clouds he's no longer allowed to see.
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