ALBA Robot Startup Brings Autonomous Vehicles to Museums for Accessibility

ALBA Robot, a Turin-based startup founded in 2020 by Andrea Bertaia Segato, develops autonomous micro-mobility vehicles to improve accessibility in airports, hospitals, and museums. Inspired by his grandmother's mobility issues, Segato leveraged his experience in autonomous driving to create personal mobility vehicles equipped with AI, sensors, IoT, and voice control. The vehicles offer indoor, outdoor, and self-driving modes, with integrated touchscreens and speakers for immersive cultural experiences. In museums, they provide multimedia content, answer visitor questions, and suggest optimized routes. Currently deployed in airports, ALBA Robot aims to expand into cultural venues, citing Istat data that only 9.3% of disabled people in Italy visit cultural sites and just 61.6% of museums are architecturally accessible. The startup faces challenges with public institutions lacking innovation budgets and slow digital integration post-pandemic. Co-founder Giulio Bozzo advises adopting an international approach from the start.