Japan workers find ‘T-Frend’ in office drone
Print Edition
A drone that hovers over Japanese workers and blares music to force them to go home was unveiled yesterday, as Japan tries to lower its notoriously long work hours.
The “T-Frend” buzzes over those trying to work late, blasting out the strains of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish tune typically used in Japan to announce that a store is closing.
“You can’t really work when you think ‘it’s coming over any time now’ and hear ‘Auld Lang Syne’ along with the buzz,” said Norihiro Kato, a director at Taisei, an office security and cleaning firm that co-developed the system.
The drone is equipped with a camera, which stores footage on an SD card. Office scenes can also be monitored almost in real time from a remote location.
The machine recognises its location on a building floor without GPS.
It takes off from its port, makes a surveillance flight on a pre-set path and then returns autonomously.
Taisei plans to start the T-Frend service in April in partnership with drone system developer Blue Innovation and telecoms operator NTT East.
The fee for the service is yet to be officially set but “the target price” is about 500,000 yen (US$4,500) a month, said Kato.
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