Just returned from the Seattle Robotics Society "Robothon 2003" where my two-wheel balancing  robot nBot received the"Most Innovative Robot" award.   I flew from Dallas to Seattle and back and carried nBot and the SR04 Robot in my carry-on luggage both ways.   Several people have asked about flying with robots post 9/11 and so I offer this brief report.
 

My carry-on bag.

According to the American Airlines web site,  each passenger is allowed one carry-on bag not to exceed 45 linear inches total (width+height+length) and one "personal item,"  such as a purse, knapsack, or laptop.   I have a standard, wheeled carry-on bag which measures 10x21x14 = 45 inches (how convienent!) pictured on the left below.

I constructed a custom-fitted box for the two robots using one inch styrofoam insulation that can be bought in 4x8 foot sheets from the lumber yard, fastened together with duct tape (what else!) and a few strategically placed pieces of foam rubber.  The styrofoam box fits exactly into the carry-on bag and surrounds the robots on all six sides.  It's fairly robust but I don't believe the case or the robots would survive normal airport checked-baggage handling procedures.

The robots fit snuggly against each other and all the remaining space was stuffed full of bubble-wrap.  This makes it fairly simple and quick to pack and un-pack,  which must be done when going through airport security checkpoints.  Everything else (tools, battery chargers, spare parts) was packed with my clothes in another suitcase and checked in as normal baggage.  My carry-on consisted of this bag and my laptop computer and its bag.

I called around to American Airlines, the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, and the Transportation Security Administration to find out if there were any other regulations covering what I needed to do.  And if, indeed, I would be allowed to do it.  I could find no-one who knew the answer to these questions, and was told more-or-less that it would be up to the individuals manning the particular security station when I arrived.   The closest I came was a person with the TSA who is evidently tasked with coordinating travel of people with medical equipment, oxygen bottles, and so forth.   But she was certain that robots were not in her department.

I decided that some documentation might be helpful and so I printed out the SRS Robothon 2003  webpage along with the webpages and display notes for nBot and SR04 and packed all that in the bag with the robots.   As a final precaution I wore a Southern Methodist University Department of Geological Sciences (my employer) t-shirt on the trip to Seattle, and a Robothon2003 t-shirt on my return home.  It probably didn't make any difference, but TSA security staff commented on both t-shirts, both ways, so who knows?

Going through security screening at the airports.

I arrived at the airport three hours early for each flight, which was probably over-kill.  I got my boarding pass and checked the suitcase and proceeded to security check-in.  When it was my turn I immediately told the attendant that I had two robots in my carry-on, unpacked the bag, and put each robot in its own little plastic bucket for xray.  Likewise the laptop was unpacked and sent through separately from its case.  Also my shoes.

The attendants in both airports wiped down the robots and everything else with their little swabs, x-rayed the robots, laptop,  bags, and shoes,  and passed me through the checkpoint without incident.   And then asked genuinely interested questions about the robots and their functions.  They did not ask me to turn them on, though I offered.  In Seattle they also congratulated me on my newly acquired SRS "Most Innovative" ribbon, which I had packed with the robots.

At neither airport was the subject of checking the robots with the other checked luggage ever mentioned.  No one seemed to consider the carrying of robots as unusual or forbidden.  No one mentioned the possibility of confiscation.

As I drove home from the D/FW airport on Monday evening, it occurred to me that perhaps the nature of the machines - that they are "robots" like R2D2 and C3P0 rather than just some miscellaneous industrial equipment - may also have played a role in the way they were perceived and treated.   It suggests a correspondingly almost unconcious and intuitive understanding and belief on the part of the airport security officials as to where these "entities" should most appropriately ride on the airplane:  in the cabin with everybody else.
 

27 Oct 2003
dpa