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The robotics company Jinki Ittai has created an imposing humanoid robot capable of performing many tasks.
From Mazinger to Grendizer and Gundam, giant robots are a well-known specialty of Japanese manga and anime. And now, they leave fiction to tumble into the world of work. Jinki Ittai, a Kusatsu-based robotics startup, has created a humanoid contraption straight out of a mech with a torso, head, and two articulated arms. And it’s not a fancy amusement park gadget like this 60-foot-tall Gundam replica, but a utility robot capable of performing a variety of tasks. Of course, he does not seem able to repel an alien invasion on his own, but he can repair the power lines of the railways or intervene on the highway signs.
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The robot mounted on a hydraulic crane is controlled remotely from a cabin similar to that of an excavator. Its pilot is equipped with a video helmet which retransmits the vision of the robot whose head is a pivoting camera. The Jinki is capable of performing very complex maneuvers and it can even dose its force with precision according to the circumstances and the material handled. “A lot of people thought that robotic technology was not advanced enough, but it exists,” said Kanaoka Hakase, 51, the founder of Jinki Ittai. “The problem is that it had not been implemented in society. So I decided to create something that we could use regularly.”
The robot pilot works in subjective vision thanks to a video helmet.
© Jinki Ittai
However, Kanaoka Hakase prefers to speak of “man-machine synergy” rather than a giant robot, in order to emphasize its stated goal of “liberating human beings from their physical limits” and reducing the risk of accidents at work.
And the success is already there: while the robot will be launched on the market in 2024, JR West and Nippon Signal, two of the most important railway companies in Japan have already placed orders for several units.