Robot Guide Helps Visitors Explore Bremerhaven

Students from the local university have turned a small, friendly robot into a helpful tour guide for tourists in Bremerhaven. The project, called PepperMINT, repurposes a four‑foot robot named Pepper to answer questions and read body language. The city welcomed the idea, seeing it as a way to make travel more engaging. Pepper can lead people around the busy cruise terminal, showing them how to reach the city center and helping with shore‑in procedures. Visitors can also scan QR codes that Pepper displays on its screen to learn more about nearby attractions or the university. The robot uses a language model to speak, and it waves or nods when answering questions to feel more natural. The robot’s personality comes from a set of detailed instructions called system prompts. These tell Pepper to act like a friendly tour expert, limit its answers to topics about Bremerhaven, the university and an annual Computer Science Day, and keep a calm but firm tone. When someone asks about something outside those topics, Pepper politely says it only knows about local matters.Because Pepper was built ten years ago, it cannot recognize individual visitors. The students had to merge its old operating system with newer software so it can move safely, avoid obstacles and follow voice commands. This integration tested both technical skill and creative problem‑solving. Tests show Pepper can provide useful information, but it struggles when many people speak at once. This limitation makes it less suitable for very busy events like trade shows unless its programming is expanded. Still, the pilot project demonstrates that a small robot can add value to tourism. The next step is to try Pepper in the real environment of the cruise terminal. If it works well, tourists could enjoy a more interactive and friendly way to navigate the city and discover local highlights.