Overview
- Japan Airlines will start a two-year pilot in May at Tokyo’s Haneda using Unitree humanoid robots in partnership with GMO AI & Robotics.
- The robots will move suitcases, cargo and containers between aircraft, belts and ramp areas, while safety-critical duties remain with human staff.
- Each unit is about 1.3 meters tall and can run for two to three hours before recharging, so the trial will track uptime, autonomy and team handoffs.
- A public demo at Haneda showed a robot pushing a load onto a conveyor beside a JAL jet, and the footage drew wide attention on social media.
- Handling over 60 million passengers a year, Haneda offers a high-pressure testbed as JAL seeks to reduce physical strain on ramp crews and may later expand robots to cabin cleaning if results warrant.