Japan develops giant robot to deal with railway worker shortage

Japan has introduced a new humanoid robot to deal with worker shortages. The robot will focus on tasks like trimming tree branches along rails and painting metal frames that hold cables above trains.

West Japan Railway has introduced the humanoid robot to handle the demanding tasks of railway maintenance, reported news agency AFP. The 12-meter-high (40 feet) machine has “coke bottle” eyes and a crude Wall-E-like head.

The robot is operated remotely by an operator who sits in a cockpit on the truck, “seeing” through the robot’s eyes via cameras and operating its powerful limbs and hands. The machine can use various attachments for its arms to carry objects as heavy as 40kg (88lb).

It comes with various attachments, like a paintbrush and a chainsaw. At first, it will be used mainly for trimming tree branches along the railway and painting the metal frames that hold up cables above the trains, according to AFP.

YouTube: AFP

The company said the humanoid robot will help address worker shortages in aging Japan and reduce accidents, such as workers falling from high places or getting electric shocks.

Japan has been facing severe labor shortages, which have led to a record number of bankruptcies. In the first half of the year alone, 182 companies went bankrupt because they couldn’t find sufficient workers, NHK World reported.

This problem has hit the construction and logistics sectors the hardest, making up 40% of these issues. To cope, many businesses are offering higher pay to attract workers, while companies like West Japan Railway are turning to humanoid robots to deal with these workforce challenges.

“In the future, we hope to use machines for all kinds of maintenance operations of our infrastructure,” and this should provide a case study for how to deal with the labor shortage, company president Kazuaki Hasegawa said in a recent press conference.