Seibu Railway is a private railway operator in Tokyo and Saitama Prefectures.
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"The decision to test the artificially intelligent robot has been taken in light of preparations for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. In that period, the number of foreign tourists will grow, as well as the number of Seibu Railway passengers. The issue of boosting security at the station as well as the issue of employees' workload reduction arose. We have launched the test to solve these problems," Sone said.
"There are many columns at the station, and this is why the employees may fail to notice something. The robot has to see what is happening as quickly as possible and notify the staff. Moreover, it notifies the staff if it notices some lost belongings at the station," Sone added.
Thanks to the robot, Seibu Railway employees will no longer have to repeatedly cruise around the station and check if there are any lost belongings or suspicious objects.
The results of the test are currently being studied. Following the research, decision will be made if it is reasonable to "employ" the robot or not.
The 2020 Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place on July 24-August 9, while the Paralympics will be held on August 25-September 6, 2020.