West Japan Railway (JR West)

History

2024: Using a Robot in Railway Maintenance

In early July 2024, the Japanese railway company West Japan Railway (JR West) introduced a humanoid robot capable of performing maintenance work on railway tracks, such as painting station structures and clearing tracks from fallen trees. JR West developed the robot in conjunction with Nippon Signal Co. and Human Machinery Co to replace humans in particularly dangerous areas of work. JR West plans to put the robot into service in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The robot can be attached to a crane boom or to a railway car, which provides quite a lot of freedom of movement and allows the robot to interact with the railway infrastructure. It is assumed that the robot will be able to work at an altitude of up to 12 meters with two hands. It is capable of lifting objects weighing up to 40 kilograms, and its hands can be replaced if necessary with tools such as chain saws and brushes. The robot is controlled from inside the car by a worker using AR glasses to view images from the robot camera. The mass of objects captured by the robot is transferred to the control lever, "allowing operators to move the robot as if they were doing the work on their own," JR West president Kazuaki Hasegawa said.

The railway expects to improve working and safety conditions by using a robot to perform dangerous and labor-intensive work on railway tracks and at heights. According to the company, the introduction of the robot will reduce the staff of the company's handymen by about 30%. JR West will consider increasing the number of robots used and selling them to other companies after testing its effectiveness and safety, which have been underway since April 2024.^[1]

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