Airport robots to haul your luggage

In another sign of the Fukuoka region's emerging robot strength, Kyodo News reports that "porter robots" have been developed by local machinery makers and were recently shown off on a trial basis at New Kitakyushu Airport in Fukuoka Prefecture.

In a test, an employee pretending to be an arriving passenger got on one of the wheeled, box-shaped machines to move around the airport. The other unit, which is smaller, was used to carry her baggage. The bots were developed by Yaskawa Electric Corp., Yawata Electric Machinery Mfg. Co., and the Fukuoka Industrial Technology Center, which is affiliated with the prefectural government. They hope to market them in a year.

The "passenger" maneuvered the machine using a lever, while the baggage porter robot took a predetermined course on the airport premises. Both are designed to move slower than people.