Humanoid robots to be used as ground handlers in trial at Japan airport

Japan Airlines (JAL) will start using humanoid robots in ground handling tasks at Tokyo's Haneda airport from May, in a two-year trial it said is aimed at easing employees' workload.

For a start, the Chinese-made robots will be deployed to load and unload cargo containers, JAL and GMO AI & Robotics, its partner in the project, said in a demonstration to the media on Monday.

Japan's aviation industry is wrestling with a labour crunch brought on by an increase in inbound tourism and a declining working-age population, said JAL, which employs some 4,000 ground handling staff.

The carrier hopes that these robots can also be used to clean cabins and operate ground support equipment in future.

Robots are already being used in some airports across Japan, including for security patrol and retail.

Japan welcomed more than seven million foreign visitors in the first two months of this year, according to statistics from JTB Group, which runs Japan's largest travel agency.

"While airports appear highly automated and standardised, their back-end operations still rely heavily on human labour and face serious labour shortages," GMO AI & Robotics' president Tomohiro Uchida told reporters.

Using robots for physically demanding tasks will "provide significant benefits to employees", Kyodo news agency quoted Yoshiteru Suzuk, the president of JAL's Ground Service, saying.

But he noted that some duties, including safety management, can only be handled by humans.