Machines compensate for labor shortages
Japan has unveiled a huge humanoid robot to service railway lines. The 12-meter-tall machine features eyes shaped like Coca-Cola bottles and a head reminiscent of the cartoon character Wall-E, as well as large arms that can be equipped with blades or paint brushes.
Japanese engineers' creation resembles a giant, evil robot from a 1980s sci-fi movie, but West Japan Railway's new humanoid employee has been designed for little more than painting and gardening, The Guardian reports, citing Agence France-Presse.
Starting this month, the large machine, with huge arms, a crude, disproportionately small head like Wall-E and Coke bottle-shaped eyes, will be mounted on a truck that can travel on rails and will be used to carry out maintenance work on the company's network.
Its operator sits in the cab of the truck, “seeing” through the eyes of the robot using cameras and remotely controlling its powerful limbs and hands.
With a vertical lift height of 12 meters, the machine can use various devices to carry objects weighing up to 40 kg, hold a paint brush or use a chainsaw.
At the moment, the robot's main task will be to trim tree branches along the rails and paint the metal frames on which the cables are attached above the trains.
The technology will help fill labor shortages in aging Japan and also reduce the number of accidents such as workers falling from heights or electrocutions, the company said.
“In the future, we hope to use the machines for all types of maintenance work on our infrastructure,” company President Kazuaki Hasegawa said at a recent press conference, and this should serve as an example of how to cope with labor shortages.