Japan Airlines trials humanoid robots for baggage handling at Haneda Airport

7 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Apr 28

The trial begins in early May 2026 and involves Chinese-made Unitree robots operating on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which serves over 60 million passengers annually.
The experiment, running until 2028 in partnership with GMO Internet Group, aims to ease the workload on human staff amid a tourism surge and worsening labor shortages.
Japan faces increasing pressure from an aging population and political debates over immigration, while robots are expected to supplement, not replace, humans in key safety roles.

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