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| West Japan Railway Unveils Humanoid Robot for Maintenance and Safety Improvements Image credit: The Japan Times |
Starting this month, West Japan Railway will deploy a new humanoid robot for maintenance work on its network. The large machine, which has enormous arms and a crude, disproportionately small Wall-E-like head with coke-bottle eyes, is mounted on a truck that can drive on rails. The robot, operated by a person in a cockpit on the truck, "sees" through cameras and uses its powerful limbs and hands remotely.
The robot's primary tasks will include trimming tree branches along rails and painting metal frames that hold cables above trains. With a vertical reach of 12 meters (40 feet) and various attachments, the machine can carry objects as heavy as 40 kilograms (88 pounds), hold a brush for painting, or use a chainsaw.
This technology is intended to address worker shortages in Japan's aging population and to reduce accidents, such as falls from high places or electric shocks.
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