Russian Railways will introduce robotic porters to work at train stations.

Russian Railways plans to introduce robotic porters to carry passengers' luggage weighing up to 30 kg. The first 50 robots will be tested at Moscow train stations.

Russian Railways (RZD) plans to introduce robotic porters to assist passengers with bulky luggage at train stations. The holding's specialized agencies—the Railway Station Directorate and the Center for Innovative Development—have begun accepting applications for the "best innovative solution" to test automated assistants at Moscow Railway stations, according to the carrier's published documents. 50 robots are planned to be developed and tested.

As the Russian Railways press service told RBC, the investment volume for the robotic porter project will be determined after the final proposal for the development and implementation of the technology has been approved, and will also depend on the cost of the specific prototype. This also applies to the number of train stations included in the program.

Russian Railways expects to collect proposals for the development by the end of December.

What will the robot carrier do?

According to the project description, the robotic porter "must follow the user," homing in on the person in front using sensors and computer vision. This "unmanned" technology will make luggage handling faster and cheaper, eliminating the need for human labor when luggage is excessive in weight and volume. Passengers will be able to summon the robot and pay for its services through a mobile app. The device is expected to carry a maximum load of 30 kg, and it will recharge and return to its "base" automatically.

As of November of this year, porter services at Russian Railways passenger stations cost between 320 and 440 rubles, and for an additional 750 rubles, an employee can, for example, move luggage between Yaroslavsky, Leningradsky, and Kazansky railway stations, according to the holding company's website.

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With the introduction of an automated system, the cost of this service could drop to 100-200 rubles, according to Kirill Yankov, Chairman of the Passenger Union. However, he believes that a robot won't be able to replace a human in this service in the coming years: "A porter performs important functions—for example, if we're assisting the elderly, they'll take carry-on luggage out of the trunk of a car, load it onto a trolley, transport it to the train car, pick it up, and place it in the luggage compartment."

According to Oleg Kivokurtsev, Development DIRECTOR at Promobot, the introduction of robotic porters at train stations will reduce Russian Railways' hiring and training costs and shorten passenger wait times when loading and unloading baggage. He estimated the cost of developing 50 robots at no less than 60 million rubles: this will go toward salaries for a team of computer vision, mechatronics, and other engineers, as well as the creation of several prototypes.

The project entails the creation of a complex navigation system that will require the development of optical, ultrasonic, and global positioning systems, as well as a passenger tracking system. Furthermore, the robots must operate both indoors and outdoors. "The cost of one unit could start at 1 million rubles, and that's an optimistic estimate. Considering the use of three sensor systems, including laser lidars, the cost could exceed 2 million rubles," the expert believes.

Where else were robots in Russian Railways?

During a pandemicRussian Railways tested a Russian-made disinfection robot, priced at 300,000 rubles, at railway stations in the Far East due to covid-19. The VeDroid Foton device was developed by engineers at the Arctic Innovation Center of North-Eastern Federal University and tested at several organizations in Yakutsk.

The disinfection robot was designed to perform daily air purification using two recirculators—ultraviolet lamps housed in a metal box with a fan mounted underneath. The design also utilized 3D modeling, online obstacle recognition , and a number of other technologies.

Where are robots used?

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) are currently used in transportation and logistics worldwide, transporting and sorting products at manufacturing and distribution facilities. The robots utilize video surveillance cameras, onboard sensors, and facility maps integrated with warehouse management software to perform various operations, such as moving raw materials and finished goods within production facilities.

The difference between AMRs and AGVs is that the former operate using natural navigation—a device that "learns" the surrounding space, remembers its location, and plans a route from one waypoint to another. AGVs, on the other hand, navigate preset routes. If the device encounters an obstacle, it stops where it is, while an AMR can reroute itself.

According to Grand View Research, the AMR market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 15.5% between 2022 and 2030, while AGVs will grow at a rate of 9.7%. This growth is driven by increasing demand for automated loading and unloading across various industries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant labor shortages and disrupted supply chains and logistics overall due to restrictions, according to experts at Grand View Research. However, the introduction of automated guided vehicles (AMRs) and AGVs has helped some businesses continue operations with minimal staffing during the lockdown.

Automated assistants are also gaining popularity in customer service. For example, in 2018, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines introduced the Care-E robotic porter. The device can not only assist with luggage but also escort passengers to the boarding gate. Care-E was tested at New York and San Francisco International Airports .

A similar development was developed by the Italian company Piaggio, which created the Gita robot carrier—a round, two-wheeled cargo robot 66 cm tall with a storage compartment. Gita is designed to carry 18 kg and travel at a speed of 35 km/h, comparable to that of a cyclist.

AMR in customer service in Russia is the Yandex.Rover project—a half-meter-tall delivery robot for small-item deliveries, holding up to 20 kg. Yandex began developing it in the summer of 2019 and then tested the device at its headquarters. The robot is fully autonomous: it plans its own route, avoids obstacles, and yields to pedestrians and animals. It can travel on city sidewalks at a speed of approximately 5 km/h and operate in both summer and winter, fulfilling orders in a variety of weather conditions.