Technology
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JR West is set to start fixing its railway system in a very Japanese fashion: using advanced humanoid robots.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Starting this month, giant Mecha-style robots will be used to perform a bunch of maintenance tasks on the company's railway infrastructure, such as painting overhead support structures and removing tree branches that obstruct the tracks.
Capable of lifting objects of up to 40 kilograms (88 pounds) and reaching heights of up to 12 meters (39 feet), the nimble arms can be equipped with a variety of tools to perform numerous odd jobs.
The toiling mechanoid is operated by a human who can sit in its accompanying truck and control its movement using a joystick and VR goggles linked to a camera on the bot's head.
You can watch a video of the technology in action below. Part of the montage even shows the robot wielding a circular saw to trim tall trees – but fear not, the developers of the contraption believe their creation is a pair of safe hands.
In a recent announcement, JR West said they developed the technology with the help of robotics company Jinki Ittai and tech company Nippon Signal in a bid to improve their employees' safety and reduce the risk of work-related accidents.
They also cited “labor shortages” as a big driver of the new technology. Japan has one of the oldest populations in the world, with around 29 percent of the country over the age of 65. It's a problem that’s set to cause all kinds of headaches, not least for the economy that’s starting to strain under the pressure of labor shortages.
Robots and new technologies often get accused of "stealing jobs" for humans, but it looks like they can be employed to alleviate worker shortages too.
