Japanese Company Develops Huge Gundam Robot To Fix Power Lines

Jul, 2022 - By WMR

Japanese Railroad West developed new humanoid heavy gundam robot for increasing productivity while protecting workers from accidents

The video of new humanoid heavy equipment robot developed by the West Japan Rail Company was released recently, in which it was shown that the gundam-style robot is mounted on the end of a crane, imitates the head and arm motions of a human pilot, who observes through robots eyes using VR goggles. According to the company, key objective of this invention is to improve safety and productivity of workers allowing them to lift and naturally manipulate heavy objects around rail system protecting workers from accidents such as falling or electric shock.

The engineered at the company developed the robot in a way that the torso of this large robot could be mounted on an arm of a hydraulic crane that rides near the rail system on a special rail car. It puts down the stabilizing legs when the robot is allotted any work. It is operated by a human, who needs to wear VR goggles that track motion for controlling the movements of the robot’s head with stereo vision. The pilot can move the hands and arm of the robot as they grip a pair of handles. When an external force moves the arm, this motion gets reflected back to the controls of the pilot. The efficiency of the robot was demonstrated as it lifted and positioned some components with reasonable size and it cleaned top of the rail structures using a unique multi-angle brush.

The West Japan Rail company made the robot look humanoid and it actually works similarly. Due to the arms and head of the robot being in familiar places in accordance with one another, the pilot gains a kinetic feel quickly to operate the robot. Furthermore, reportedly the company is developing the robot with Human Machinery Co. and Nippon Signal Co. in partnership.