ROBOT INTRODUCTION TO CLEANING WORK IN THE EAST-JAPAN-RAILWAY-COMPANY

Cleaning of rolling stock and stations is very important work in suppl ying comfortable service to customers. However, there are some problem s with cleaning work, e.g. lack of workers who are getting older. To i mprove these problems, the East japan Railway has developed several ki nds of robots for cleaning. Here, I explain four types of floor cleani ng robots. The first is a dust-collecting robot (the sweeper-type robo t) for corners of station floors, the second is a cleaning robot (the scrubber-type robot) for use throughout a station and the third is a f loor cleaning robot for commuter rail cars, all of which are self-prop elled. The last one is a bonnet cleaning robot for Shinkansen rolling stock which has special axis mechanisms and a running mechanism.