Japanese railway company employs robot

West Japan Railways (WJR) has started using a 40-foot robot to handle some maintenance work along the rails, such as trimming tree branches and painting metal frames.

Besides its impressive height, the robot can hold a paintbrush and a chainsaw and carry heavy objects up to 88 pounds. At a press conference, company president Kazuaki Hasegawa noted that WJR hopes to “use [the] machines for all kinds of maintenance operations of our infrastructure” in the future.