The future is here>Japan’s famously conscientious but overburdened baggage handlers will soon be joined by extra staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport – although their new colleagues will need to take regular recharging breaks.>Japan Airlines will introduce humanoid robots on a trial basis from the beginning of May, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage.>The Chinese-made humanoids will move travellers’ luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda, which handles more than 60 million passengers a year.>JAL and its partner in the initiative, Japan Airlines GMO Internet Group, hope the experiment – which ends in 2028 – will lessen the burden on human employees amid a surge in inbound tourism and forecasts of more severe labour shortages.>In a demonstration for the media this week, a 130cm-tall robot manufactured by Hangzhou-based Unitree was seen tentatively “pushing” cargo on to a conveyer belt next to a JAL passenger plane and waving to an unseen colleague.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/28/humanoid-robots-baggage-handlers-japan-airports
>>108707682vids or it didn't happen
>labor shortageno such thing, its a cheap labor shortage
>>108707682were we really short on people willing to load bags. or just people willing to do it for $fuck all.50¢ while the bean counters demand they work ever faster with fewer mistakes?
>>108707704Yes, Japanese airports have been short on labor and the workers there have been overburdened for quite some time.
The most difficult and labour intensive tasks are stowing/retrieving luggage in the hold or containers. Work for strong retards, well beyond the capabilities of AI/robots intelligence and manipulation wise.
>>108707721has the airline tried paying people more?or not demanding they load the whole aircraft in 15 minutes just so it can sit on the runway for an hour because they found cowshit and basmati rice in the cabin air filter again.
>>108707741They'd have to raise ticket prices and make themselves uncompetitive, which is not a sound business decision.Foreign airlines pay low wages to immigrant workers so to compete with them, they also have to keep wages "low" (wages in Japan aren't low by any means).
>>108707682ok now make it perform a prostate exam
>>108707755they made record profits last year. and the year before that. and so on. sure there's a covid shaped dip, sure. but there's plenty of fat to cut.
>>108707816line must go up infinitely
>>108707816What do the companies gain from cutting their profits when the problem is being solved right now?
>>108707825stability
What is the point of robots for menial jobs? Surely it can't be cheaper than human labor. Not to mention they aren't even capable of this task, clickbait I'm sure, 2 more weeks.
>>108707833It's starting from May. So 2 days. And it'll last till 2028, so 2 years.It's Japan, not America.
>>108707825>What do the companies gainNothing, all that would do is just prevent their execs from being shot and killed in the street one day.So, they should keep doing what they're doing. I'm all for it.
>>108707833>Surely it can't be cheaper than human laborWhen there's literally no human available, it is cheaper. Japan has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world and companies are still facing labor shortage.
>>108707682Still no sex with robot
>>108707682Top kek, just wait until one of these robots malfunctions and causes damage to the airplane.
>>108707833Then you don't have to import poor scum to do those menial jobs.
hmm so immigrants will no longer be needed right?
>>108707682Wow, now I can have a robot fuck my wife and keep her occupied so I can spend more time on 4chan instead of hiring a few BBCs to do the same thing.
>>108707699In Japan's case it makes sense. High employment is one of the prerequisites for adoption of automation
>>108707682That's how we should do this shit instead of importing half of third world. It would boost our machine building companies and also solve the unemployment issue.T German.
there are no labor shortages
>>108707682So we can deport 20 million illegals?
>>108707741Why pay people more when you can spend their annual salary on two robots that you can work like slaves?
>>108708579I work my GPU 24/7
>>108707741>has the airline tried paying people more?Lol.Paying people more is the LAST thing any company wants to do.
>>108707682>look at the robot pushing the cargo containersure sure. more like "we propped our robot against the cargo container". why is it pushing?
>>108708676>why is it pushing?Because you push it to start it going towards the plane for loading.
>>108708710look at the wheels
>>108707682honestly, I wish they did this in my southern cone shithole. here workers steal shit from baggage all the time, so you never know if you will get your stuff after traveling.
>>108708727You're not pushing that, the container is on a roller track.It has come in from the left, and then it gets pushed forward.
>>108708353Officially, the US has been at full employment for years and yet there are millions complaining they can't find employment.
>>108708524It doesn't solve the Germans might vote wrong problem that politicians want to solve.
>>108707682I don't get it, those robots are not autonomous so... they still need "workers" to drive them.
thats a lot of cum
well well well...
>>108711921>Stop working to wave at peopleWelp, as efficient as women of jeet.Also, was that last salute programmed?
>>108707682>here's your luggage bro
>>108707682>robots running around an airfield tossing peoples bags onto the wrong flights and onto the wrong beltsI mean sure, its better than robots in the air traffic control room but that doesn't mean its a good idea. Robots caring for the elderly who can't do anything is unironically a better usecase, since even if they straight up kill people its less risky than having a clanker jump into an engine.
>>108707682automation is the solution to labor "shortages". not migration
>>108708049Bro, you say that like humans don't also "malfunction" on the job.
>>108713355Those are problems with humans doing the job as well, so the question is whether it will be WORSE.
>>108713928>human makes mistake>there's always the possibility for them to notice and fix it>robot makes mistake>"I did everything correctly :)"
>>108714095Right. Because no human has ever been both absolutely wrong and also completely convinced they were correct. You have the self awareness of a turnip.
>>108714117>X can happenis not the same as>X will always happen
>>108711921We have a robot that stacks pallets and bins, sometimes its arms break when things are improperly stacked. How long until the robot is crushed by that giant bucket when it's being loaded on the conveyor belt? Would be a knee slapper for the ages.
>>108711921> this fucking clanker just waved at me while he's taking my job> the clankers are establishing dominance over their human counterpartsits' over
>>108707682>Jap baggage handlers will never wave goodbye to you on an airplane that's leaving the airport anymoreWhy even live
