Humanoid robots take real baggage duty at Tokyo Haneda airport

Two humanoid robots are being put on actual ramp duty at Haneda, not a lab demo, handling baggage and cargo on the tarmac at one of the world’s busiest airports. The trial starts May 2026 and is set to run through 2028, with work that includes moving luggage, pushing containers onto conveyors, and aircraft cabin cleaning.

The setup targets a real constraint: labor shortages colliding with more than 60 million annual passengers. If the initial run holds up, the scope expands into broader ground-handling tasks like container movement and operating equipment, turning a small two-unit test into a wider airport operations pilot.