04:09West Japan Railways Company uses a giant humanoid robot to maintain overhead power line infrastructure in Kyoto, ensuring employees can avoid dangerous tasks.
Footage captured on Wednesday shows workers using the robot equipped with circular saw and chainsaw attachments, which can be seen rising above the railway lines to cut back trees and bushes.
"Trees with large branches can be cut down by grabbing them. If the tree is cut down normally, it may fall and hit heavy machinery, causing it to fall over. The robot can also cut hard and soft materials such as bamboo and vines."," said the manager of the West Japan Railways-owned Osaka Electric Power Engineering Center Masahiro Niki.
According to local media reports, the robot can reach up to around 12 metres vertically and carry heavy objects weighing about 40 kilogrammes at around 8 metres from the ground. It was introduced to railway work in July to cut down trees obstructing trains, as well as to paint and repair equipment.
Kanaoka Hakase, president of Japanese technology company Jinki Ittai, said that involving robots in work which previously required people to climb to dangerous heights reduces the load on the workforce, and can 'increase efficiency,' and 'eliminate the potential hazards.'
"A certain level of routine work in a factory may be relatively replaceable, so automation and autonomy may be possible. But on-site work like this requires flexible decision-making, and it is difficult to replace it all with AI," he explained. "It is difficult to maintain this infrastructure with a shrinking population if we continue to use almost all human labour, as we are doing now."
"We know that railroad maintenance often takes place in the middle of the night. The trains are running during the day, so it is done in the middle of the night when the trains are stopped. And so, because it's heavy work, it's a more challenging environment than other heavy work sites. It is hard to attract people," he added.
He also claimed that Jinki Ittai plans to 'expand' the use of robot technology in civil engineering, electric power transmission and distribution, road maintenance, and other areas where high-altitude work is required.
West Japan Railways developed the robot in co-operation with Jinki Ittai and communications equipment manufacturing firm Nippon Signal. The company earlier reported in a statement that the aim is to fill labour shortages, reduce the number of accidents during work, and reduce the workforce by at least 30 per cent for certain hazardous tasks.
Train terminators here! West Japan Railways uses giant humanoid robot for line maintenance
West Japan Railways Company uses a giant humanoid robot to maintain overhead power line infrastructure in Kyoto, ensuring employees can avoid dangerous tasks.
Footage captured on Wednesday shows workers using the robot equipped with circular saw and chainsaw attachments, which can be seen rising above the railway lines to cut back trees and bushes.
"Trees with large branches can be cut down by grabbing them. If the tree is cut down normally, it may fall and hit heavy machinery, causing it to fall over. The robot can also cut hard and soft materials such as bamboo and vines."," said the manager of the West Japan Railways-owned Osaka Electric Power Engineering Center Masahiro Niki.
According to local media reports, the robot can reach up to around 12 metres vertically and carry heavy objects weighing about 40 kilogrammes at around 8 metres from the ground. It was introduced to railway work in July to cut down trees obstructing trains, as well as to paint and repair equipment.
Kanaoka Hakase, president of Japanese technology company Jinki Ittai, said that involving robots in work which previously required people to climb to dangerous heights reduces the load on the workforce, and can 'increase efficiency,' and 'eliminate the potential hazards.'
"A certain level of routine work in a factory may be relatively replaceable, so automation and autonomy may be possible. But on-site work like this requires flexible decision-making, and it is difficult to replace it all with AI," he explained. "It is difficult to maintain this infrastructure with a shrinking population if we continue to use almost all human labour, as we are doing now."
"We know that railroad maintenance often takes place in the middle of the night. The trains are running during the day, so it is done in the middle of the night when the trains are stopped. And so, because it's heavy work, it's a more challenging environment than other heavy work sites. It is hard to attract people," he added.
He also claimed that Jinki Ittai plans to 'expand' the use of robot technology in civil engineering, electric power transmission and distribution, road maintenance, and other areas where high-altitude work is required.
West Japan Railways developed the robot in co-operation with Jinki Ittai and communications equipment manufacturing firm Nippon Signal. The company earlier reported in a statement that the aim is to fill labour shortages, reduce the number of accidents during work, and reduce the workforce by at least 30 per cent for certain hazardous tasks.
West Japan Railways Company uses a giant humanoid robot to maintain overhead power line infrastructure in Kyoto, ensuring employees can avoid dangerous tasks.
Footage captured on Wednesday shows workers using the robot equipped with circular saw and chainsaw attachments, which can be seen rising above the railway lines to cut back trees and bushes.
"Trees with large branches can be cut down by grabbing them. If the tree is cut down normally, it may fall and hit heavy machinery, causing it to fall over. The robot can also cut hard and soft materials such as bamboo and vines."," said the manager of the West Japan Railways-owned Osaka Electric Power Engineering Center Masahiro Niki.
According to local media reports, the robot can reach up to around 12 metres vertically and carry heavy objects weighing about 40 kilogrammes at around 8 metres from the ground. It was introduced to railway work in July to cut down trees obstructing trains, as well as to paint and repair equipment.
Kanaoka Hakase, president of Japanese technology company Jinki Ittai, said that involving robots in work which previously required people to climb to dangerous heights reduces the load on the workforce, and can 'increase efficiency,' and 'eliminate the potential hazards.'
"A certain level of routine work in a factory may be relatively replaceable, so automation and autonomy may be possible. But on-site work like this requires flexible decision-making, and it is difficult to replace it all with AI," he explained. "It is difficult to maintain this infrastructure with a shrinking population if we continue to use almost all human labour, as we are doing now."
"We know that railroad maintenance often takes place in the middle of the night. The trains are running during the day, so it is done in the middle of the night when the trains are stopped. And so, because it's heavy work, it's a more challenging environment than other heavy work sites. It is hard to attract people," he added.
He also claimed that Jinki Ittai plans to 'expand' the use of robot technology in civil engineering, electric power transmission and distribution, road maintenance, and other areas where high-altitude work is required.
West Japan Railways developed the robot in co-operation with Jinki Ittai and communications equipment manufacturing firm Nippon Signal. The company earlier reported in a statement that the aim is to fill labour shortages, reduce the number of accidents during work, and reduce the workforce by at least 30 per cent for certain hazardous tasks.