Japan Has a Humanoid Robot That Fixes High-Voltage Train Lines
Electrified rail is a fantastic resolution to mass transit, and something Japan has completely put into observe. But there continue to remains the issue of how to repair service the catenaries that electrical power electrical trains. In Japan, the standardized electrical power that the overhead wires transmit is 25 kilovolts (kV) at 60 Hz. Although voltage is not the direct component that potential customers to electrocution loss of life (somewhat, which is far more a issue of current), 25,000 volts is not a thing everyone wants to reach out and touch, even on incident.
West Japan Railway Business (JR West) has devised a prototype that will with any luck , make hazardous electrical line do the job a detail of the past, with the help of digital fact and huge mechs.
The large maintenance unit is, basically, a crane arm with a robotic torso attached, all related to a flatbed practice car or truck. The robot has articulated arms, claw-like fingers, and “eyes” in the sort of wide-see cameras rotated on a… properly, head. (Look at that online video and inform me this detail isn’t a Huge Man.)
The overall set up rolls close to on its railway support vehicle to wherever hazardous work is essential. Once there, an operator controls the whole humanoid device with a VR headset slash movement manage method. The significant, joystick-lever-esque movement controllers that the operator works by using are established up with drive feed-back so that if the robot encounters unforeseen resistance, you will find precise tactile awareness for the consumer, to make it a lot more dextrous. In addition to keeping staff absent from dangerously large voltages, JR West also notes that this significant mech will get rid of the have to have for staff to sit in a cherry-picker basket or at the prime of tall platforms for the reason that it can be remotely operated from the ground.
The prototype is nonetheless a 1-off experimental undertaking, but if screening is profitable, JR West hopes to have it integrated into get the job done by 2024. The kind aspect is undeniably neat, and a humanoid style and design will make excellent perception here. Humans are most dextrous with their possess bodies replicating that form on a significant scale and enabling someone to command it as their have limbs is genuinely the most simple solution. Ideally, with far more peaceful apps like this, Shinji will not be rather so unwilling to get in the robot future time.