The large body, the thick mechanical arms, the blue body paint ...... How does this look look somewhat familiar? Looking more closely, the rather Gundam-looking humanoid robot is actually not a mobile fighter, but a repairman on the railroad tracks.
▲ Photo from: JR West
This is a multifunctional railway heavy equipment combining heavy equipment robots and railway construction vehicles, jointly developed by West Japan Railway Company, Human Machinery Co. both to improve productivity and safety, and to address the shortage of labor for railway infrastructure maintenance.
This multi-purpose railroad heavy equipment, with specially supported railcars traveling around the track system at the bottom, has a humanoid robot body mounted on the end of a lifting arm, with an operator in the driver's seat at the other end of the arm.
▲ Photo from: JR West
When the operator puts on the VR headset, the footage from the camera on the robot's head is displayed in real time on the VR device. If the operator's head changes direction, the robot's camera turns with it (the camera is a bit like Wall-E), as if the operator were in the field observing the situation.
▲ Photo from: JR West
In addition to the real-time synchronization of the visual images, the movements of the operator and the robot are also linked in real time. The operator underneath the lifting arm controls the robot's arm through a joystick to perform operations such as movement and gripping.
▲ Photo from: JR West
Since this is a personal robot, the movements when performing operations are similar to those of a human, and with the weight and recoil felt by the robot being fed back to the operator, the intuitive operation and experience looks like a human maintenance worker performing the work at altitude himself. Meaning the operator can get up to speed quickly and with greater ease.
▲ Photo from: JR West
In the demo, you can see that the robot can lift brushes to maintain and clean the track just like a human. The state of gripping these tools with 'hands' is quite flexible, but due to the nature of the robot, the operation is not very fast.
Despite the Gundam-esque appearance, this manipulation of robots with the help of VR linkage seems more like the way the robot warriors in Pacific Rim operate.
▲ Photo from: JR West
It doesn't matter which style of robot it is, what matters is that having this humanoid robot will be of great benefit to maintenance work on the railway. Instead of having to endure the hazards of climbing to heights, maintenance workers can operate the robot from the ground and work at heights just as well.
With machine mechanics, it is possible to handle various equipment installed in high places, and with the mechanization of heavy work, some of the labor is saved, thus increasing efficiency.
▲ Photo from: JR West
More importantly, having a robot perform work at height instead reduces the probability of accidents such as electrocution or collisions when human maintenance workers are performing the work, greatly improving safety while working.
According to the development plan, this type of multifunctional railway heavy equipment is to be tested with a prototype in April 2022, and may reach the goal of practical use and introduction on the sales line in the spring of 2024. In the near future, it may be possible to see more 'machine repairers' working on Japanese railways.