Humanoid Robot to Serve as Baggage Handler at Tokyo's Haneda Airport

Humanoid robots are now beginning to take on roles in the workforce. These robots, designed with a physical structure resembling humans, will be employed at Haneda Airport in Japan.

Starting from early May 2026, Japan Airlines (JAL) will conduct a trial of humanoid robots as baggage handling staff at Haneda Airport. This step is taken as a solution to the chronic labour shortage that is increasingly felt in Japan.

In the trial, the humanoid robot produced by the Chinese company Unitree will be tasked with moving passengers’ suitcases and cargo in the apron area. Haneda Airport itself is one of Japan’s busiest airports, with more than 60 million passengers per year.

This programme is a collaboration between JAL and the Japan Airlines GMO Internet Group, and is planned to run until 2028. Both parties hope that the use of robots can reduce the workload on human employees, especially amid the surge in foreign tourists and projections of worsening labour shortages.

In a demonstration to the media, the 130 cm tall robot was seen pushing cargo to a conveyor belt beside a JAL passenger aircraft, even waving its hand. Nevertheless, its capabilities are still limited and it requires recharging every two to three hours.

President of JAL Ground Service, Yoshiteru Suzuki, said that using robots for physical work will help alleviate the burden on workers and provide significant benefits. “As for important tasks like safety management, they will still be handled by humans,” Suzuki said, as reported by The Guardian website, Thursday (30/4/2026).