Tokyo airport testing out humanoid robot baggage carriers

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, also known as Tokyo International, was the world’s third busiest airport in 2025. More than 91 million passengers fly through the airport in 2025. It is the primary hub for Japan Airlines, and for nearly 100 years it has had to meet increasing passenger demand. So, here come the robots.

It was announced on April 27 that a new pilot would bring humanoid robot baggage handlers to Haneda’s tarmac to address the ongoing labor shortage nationwide. The trial period begins in early May and will run until 2028, in which the robots will be deployed to perform rote tasks within the airport’s ground services team.

“Although airports appear to be highly automated and standardized, their back-end operations still rely heavily on human labor and face severe labor shortages,” said Tomohiro Uchida, president of GMO AI and Robotics.

mashable light speed

The airport’s ground service president, Yoshiteru Suzuki, told the press that the robots “will essentially reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees.” The 4-foot-tall robot is manufactured by Unitri, makers of the infamous quadruped “robot dogs” that have recently been tested for their military applications.

The first phase of the pilot involves mapping airports and human worker patterns to determine where the robots can work. Then, the robots will work in a simulated airport environment before moving on to the real thing. Airport robots will only get to perform certain tasks that are assigned to their human counterparts on a day-to-day basis, including moving luggage on conveyor belts and, ultimately, custodial tasks like cleaning airplane cabins. Humans will continue to oversee key functions such as security management.

The robots will also get more breaks than their sentient counterparts: each unit can only operate for two to three hours at a time before needing a recharge.