Introducing robots at Haneda Airport in Japan, cleaning, leading, and carrying luggage

In order to meet the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, the Haneda Airport in Japan has recently implemented a robot experiment program to introduce robots developed by 17 manufacturers to support airport passenger services, thereby publicly testing the safety and service effectiveness of robots and accelerating the introduction of robots to improve service quality. . Now, passengers only need to go to the exit hall on the south side of the second terminal of the Haneda Airport Domestic Line, and they will see the "ground service" of this group of robots.

Japan Airport Terminal, a Haneda airport operator, said that the application of robotics is not only a solution to the problem of declining labor force, but also part of the Japanese government’s “Reform 2020” plan. Therefore, it is related to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Jointly set up the Haneda Robotics Laboratory (Haneda RoboTIcs Lab) and promote the “2016 Haneda Airport Robot Experiment Program”. The program provides experimental opportunities for robot developers to actually put robots into airport services and interact directly with passengers. It is expected to continuously improve and adjust robots through actual measurement, and accelerate the popularization of robot technology applications to show the strength of Japanese robotics to countries.

▲ Haneda Airport Robot Laboratory (Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

Since the promotion of the Haneda Airport Robot Experiment Program, the first phase of the program participants has been selected in mid-October 2016 through a public recruitment method, with a total of 17 robots. The areas of responsibility are divided into cleaning, mobile support, and consulting. .

▲ The first phase of the Haneda Airport Robot Experiment Program (Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

Sweeping robot

Among the robots participating in the first phase of the project, robots developed by four manufacturers are responsible for cleaning the airport environment, including “F.ROBOCLEAN” from Figla Co., Ltd., “ROBO Cleaper” from Midwest Metal Industry Co., Ltd., and “SE-500iX II” from AMANO Co., Ltd. ", and "Windowmate" of NGP-FOTEC Co., Ltd.

▲ Top left: F.ROBOCLEAN, top right: ROBO Cleaper, bottom left: SE-500iX II, bottom right: Windowmate
(Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

Mobile support robot

There are 5 robots classified in mobile support services, which are responsible for assisting airport operators and passengers with baggage and passenger mobility. Including ZMP "CarriRo", AMY Creative "INMOTION R1EX", company "TUG", WHILL NW "WHILL NEXT", and Honda technology industry "UNI-CUB β".

▲ Top left: CarriRo, top right: INMOTION R1EX, bottom left: TUG, bottom right: WHILL NEXT
(Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

▲ Honda's personal mobile device “UNI-CUB β” has appeared in the MV of the American alternative rock band OK Go.
(Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

Consulting guided robot

As for the advisory guided robots, there are 8 companies, such as ground crews who provide passenger consultation and guided tours. They are INDY ASSOCIATES "CAIBA", BRULE "Double2", Hitachi Ltd. "EMIEW3", Nextremer "MINARAI", Softbank Robot Holdings "Pepper", SEQSENSE "SQ-1H", ALSOK Integrated Security Co., Ltd. "Reborg- X”, Sharp “RoBoHoN”.

▲ INDY ASSOCIATES Robot "CAIBA" (Source: Gizmodo)

▲ Hitachi, Ltd. robot "EMIEW3" (Source: HITACHI)

▲ Top left: Double2, top right: MINARAI, bottom left: SQ-1H, bottom right: Reborg-X
(Source: HANEDA ROBOTICS LAB)

▲ Pepper, which is very active in the service industry recently (Source: SoftBank)

▲ It is the "RoBoHoN" of the robot and the mobile phone (Source: RoBoHoN)

The Haneda Airport Robot Experiment Program will test the safety of the robot itself, the safety of operation in public places, and the introduction of effectiveness verification. The first phase of the plan is for two months, starting from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and will be measured in turn according to the robot service category. At present, the actual measurement of the cleaning robot has ended. Next, from January 10th to January 23rd, 2017, it will be the mobile support robot. From January 24th to February 13th, 2017, the consulting robot will be guided by the experiment. Plan to improve the performance of robot technology and accelerate the introduction of airport services in order to achieve the goal by 2020.