“At first I felt a bit strange with him, but now I like him somewhat,” said Madoka Nishibori, a 42-year-old worker at a money-handling machine factory in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, describing her colleague. “He sometimes makes mistakes, but he’s nice to work with because he works at a constant pace.”

Nishibori’s colleague sounds like a regular worker, but in fact is a humanoid robot.

It has been about six months since Nishibori and the robot began working together on the assembly line.

At this Saitama factory of Glory Ltd., a money-handling machine manufacturer headquartered in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, one robot joined about 320 workers in 2010. Currently, 17 robots help manufacture devices, such as change machines for cash registers.

At an assembly line for coin slots for cash register money changers, four robots are responsible for four of the five processes, while the final process is handled by a person. About 80 percent of the work, such as installing belts and gears, is done by robots.

According to factory manager Katsuhiko Maruo, humanoid robots use their eyes, meaning cameras in their heads and hands, to recognize parts and the locations of holes, and can choose the right tool to assemble them. “Automating lines to build various machines in different quantities used to be very difficult. But a robot can flexibly handle various jobs. Their jobs are similar to the ones humans do, so people can replace them in case they stop due to malfunctions or power outages,” Maruo said.

The humanoid robots, called NEXTAGE, are manufactured by Kawada Industries Inc., headquartered in Toyama Prefecture. The firm said about 100 robots are working at more than 10 companies around the country.

They are slower than their human counterparts, so the robots at Glory’s Saitama factory keep on working even when the humans take breaks to make up for the delay.

Maruo thinks the robots can start working on the night shift within this fiscal year. “We aren’t planning on reducing our workforce. Rather, we hope they can coexist with the robots, by sharing roles to improve efficiency and further develop the company,” he added. 

(The Japan News)