It might not be very long before travelers in Japan are being helped by robots at the train station.

East Japan Railway Co. is apparently looking at using robots to help to solve some common traveler issues. Specifically, they want to use the robots to help carry luggage, offer directions and assistance to lost travelers, clean the floors, and possible deter and fight crime.

The robots will also be able to speak a variety of languages so that they can assist travelers from all around the world.

Last week, JR East announced the introduction of a robotics company that is going to be looking at designing robots to help travelers navigate their way around the train station.

And East Japan Railway isn’t only invested in train stations either, they are also in the hospitality, technology, and property management industries.

It might not take very long for them to not only roll out the robots at the train station but we might soon see these robots also placed at shopping malls and other venues. There are already multiple areas where consumers have started to come face-to-face with robots in customer service settings.

Robots are already working in hotels, serving food, working in hospitals, and in other settings. JR East started working on the concept for the robots at the train station some time ago but they've only just recently established the company to help their vision become a reality.

Robots have already been placed at some JR East travel service locations, like the Hitachi EMIEW3 robot seen above, that can assist travelers with answering some of their basic travel questions.

In Japan, they've got robots working at banks, airports, restaurants, department stores, hotels, and more. Because of the rapid growth in the way of robot prevalence throughout the country, it's been said that Japan is obsessed with robots. It's no surprise that Japan has been rushing to be the first in the world to be the largest robotics-supported society and they hope this market will reach over $20 billion by 2020.

Pics:
Bloomberg
JR East
Youtube
Sources:
https://www.cnet.com/news/robots-japan-railways-jre-robotics-station/
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/07/07/japan-railways-want-to-build-a-team-of-robots-to-help-travelers-catch-criminals-in-its-stations/
https://www.facebook.com/InJapanGuide/videos/895486933928934/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/10/04/national/multilingual-robot-ready-serve-visitors-tokyo-stations-marunouchi-exit/#.WWP8TXQUmpo
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/09/heres-why-japan-is-obsessed-with-robots.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/18/national/train-delayed-good-chance-someone-has-dropped-a-smartphone-on-the-tracks/#.WWP7bnQUmpo