Japan deploys humanoid robot for railway maintenance

It resembles a malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway's new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.

Starting this month, the machine with a crude head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck -- which can drive on rails -- will be put to use for maintenance work on the firm's network.

Its operator sits in a cockpit on the truck, "seeing" through the robot's eyes via cameras and operating its powerful limbs and hands remotely.

With a vertical reach of 40 feet, the machine can use various attachments for its arms to carry objects as heavy as 40 kg, hold a brush to paint or use a chainsaw.

For now, the robot's primary task will focus on trimming tree branches along rails and painting metal frames that hold cables above trains, the company said.