Japanese Company Produces Giant Mecha for Railroad Maintenance

The West Japan Rail Company (JR West) is enlisting the help of a huge robot, but instead of fighting giant monsters, this massive machine will help keep railroads in tip-top shape.

Releasing a statement in mid-April, JR West declared that the almost ten-metre-tall automaton – which was designed to resemble both the eponymous, manned machine from the “Mobile Suit Gundam” anime, and the titular hero of 2008 film, “WALL-E” – is a prototype which will be used to “improve productivity and safety” in large-scale railway maintenance and building tasks.

The machine is sturdily mounted on a crane arm, which is attached to a rail car, and is remote-controlled through a VR headset with hand controls. The linked controls are “intuitive”, with a special focus on weight feedback for the operator as the robot will be lifting incredibly heavy objects.

The maintenance droid’s debut is expected some time in 2024, but offers from other companies have already come through to create similar bots for the security and mining industries, to name a few.

Soon, the dreams of many anime fans will come true as giant mecha become a reality.

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