Their new colleagues will need regular recharging breaks
At Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Japan Airlines is preparing to welcome a new kind of colleague — humanoid robots built to carry what an ageing workforce increasingly cannot. Beginning in May 2026, Chinese-made machines from Unitree will trial as baggage handlers, a quiet but consequential response to a nation caught between record tourism and a shrinking population. Japan's dilemma is not unique, but its willingness to seek mechanical answers to deeply human problems places it at the frontier of a question the modern world has not yet resolved: when people are scarce, what do we ask machines to carry for us?
- Japan faces a compounding crisis — tourism is breaking records while the workforce that sustains it continues to shrink, leaving airports like Haneda dangerously understaffed.
- Baggage handlers and ground crews absorb the physical toll of moving luggage for 60 million passengers a year, a burden that human bodies were never meant to bear indefinitely.
- Japan Airlines and its partners are deploying 130-centimeter humanoid robots on the tarmac, betting that automation can fill the gap that immigration policy refuses to.
- The robots operate for only two to three hours before needing a recharge, a reminder that these machines are reinforcements, not replacements — safety and judgment stay human.
- If the trial succeeds through 2028, the model could expand to cabin cleaning and other back-end operations, and its lessons may ripple far beyond Japan.
Japan Airlines is introducing humanoid robots to the tarmac at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, one of the world's busiest, beginning May 2026. The machines — compact, Chinese-made units from Hangzhou-based Unitree — will handle luggage and cargo alongside human ground crews in a trial scheduled to run through 2028. If the experiment succeeds, they are intended to become permanent.
The initiative is a direct response to Japan's deepening labour crisis. Tourism has surged to historic levels, with over 7 million visitors arriving in just the first two months of 2026. Yet the population available to serve them is ageing and contracting. Projections suggest Japan will need more than 6.5 million foreign workers by 2040 to sustain its economy — a number its immigration policy is not prepared to accommodate. Automation has become the politically easier answer.
At a media demonstration, one robot was shown pushing cargo onto a conveyor belt and waving to a nearby worker — modest gestures that nonetheless signal a shift in how airports might function. JAL Ground Service president Yoshiteru Suzuki was clear that the goal is worker welfare, not workforce elimination: physically demanding tasks would move to the machines, while safety-critical decisions would remain with people.
The broader observation, offered by GMO AI and Robotics president Tomohiro Uchida, is that airports only appear automated — behind the scenes, they remain stubbornly labour-intensive. The robots being trialled are limited: slow-moving, in need of frequent recharging, and incapable of the judgment human workers exercise daily. But in a country where the arithmetic of labour has shifted so dramatically, even modest, reliable help may prove to be exactly enough.
Japan Airlines is about to introduce a new category of worker to Tokyo's Haneda Airport: humanoid robots that will handle luggage and cargo on the tarmac. Beginning in May, the airline will run a trial of these machines—Chinese-made units manufactured by Hangzhou-based Unitree, each standing 130 centimeters tall—with the intention of making them permanent fixtures if the experiment succeeds. The trial is scheduled to run through 2028.
Haneda processes more than 60 million passengers annually, making it one of the world's busiest airports. The baggage handlers and ground crew who work there have long carried the weight of that volume on their shoulders, moving luggage and cargo in conditions that are physically taxing and relentless. Japan Airlines and its partner in this initiative, Japan Airlines GMO Internet Group, see the robots as a way to ease that burden while addressing a problem that extends far beyond any single airport: Japan's deepening labour shortage.
The country is caught between two powerful forces. Tourism has surged dramatically. More than 7 million visitors arrived in the first two months of 2026 alone, building on a record 42.7 million the previous year. At the same time, Japan's population is ageing and shrinking, leaving fewer people available to fill essential roles. One estimate suggests the country will need more than 6.5 million foreign workers by 2040 just to meet its growth targets. Yet the government faces political pressure to restrict immigration, creating a gap that automation may help fill.
During a media demonstration this week, one of the robots was shown performing its assigned tasks: pushing cargo onto a conveyor belt beside a JAL aircraft and waving to a colleague. The machines can operate continuously for two to three hours before requiring a recharge—a limitation that underscores they are meant to augment human workers, not replace them entirely. Yoshiteru Suzuki, president of JAL Ground Service, framed the initiative in terms of worker welfare, saying that deploying robots for physically demanding tasks would "inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees." He was careful to note, however, that critical functions like safety management would remain in human hands.
Tomohiro Uchida, president of GMO AI and Robotics, pointed to a paradox at the heart of modern airports: they appear highly automated from a passenger's perspective, yet their behind-the-scenes operations remain labour-intensive and chronically understaffed. The robots are being designed with this reality in mind. Beyond baggage handling, the companies are exploring other applications, including aircraft cabin cleaning—work that is repetitive, physically demanding, and difficult to fill with human staff.
What unfolds over the next two years at Haneda will be watched closely. Japan is not alone in facing demographic decline and labour shortages, and the success or failure of this experiment could influence how other countries and industries approach similar challenges. The robots themselves are modest in their capabilities—they move slowly, require frequent breaks, and cannot handle the nuanced judgment that human workers bring to their jobs. But in a country where the math of supply and demand has shifted dramatically, even modest help may prove invaluable.
Citas Notables
Using robots to perform physically demanding work would inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees.— Yoshiteru Suzuki, president of JAL Ground Service
While airports appear highly automated and standardised, their back-end operations still rely heavily on human labour and face serious labor shortages.— Tomohiro Uchida, president of GMO AI and Robotics
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Japan need robots to move luggage? Don't they have enough workers?
They did, once. But Japan's population is shrinking and ageing faster than almost any developed country. Fewer young people are entering the workforce, and tourism is exploding at the same time. It's a squeeze.
So they're just bringing in foreign workers, right?
That's the tension. They need 6.5 million foreign workers by 2040 to hit their growth targets, but the government is under political pressure to restrict immigration. Robots become a way to thread that needle.
These robots—are they actually good at the job?
They can work two to three hours straight without stopping, which is something. But they're slow, they need recharging, and they can't make judgment calls. They're not replacing baggage handlers. They're meant to take the heaviest, most repetitive work off their shoulders.
What happens if the trial fails?
Then Japan keeps doing what it's been doing—pushing human workers harder, or finding ways to bring in more foreign labour despite the political resistance. The robots are a test of whether automation can ease the pressure.
Is this just a Japan problem?
No. But Japan is ahead of the curve. They're facing demographic decline that other wealthy countries will hit in a decade or two. What they learn here will matter elsewhere.
So we're watching the future of work?
We're watching one country's answer to it. Whether it works depends on whether the robots actually reduce worker burden without creating new problems—and whether the politics around immigration shift.