S/ Ueno Mina, Nippon TV Reporter / By moving these levers, I can operate an excavator located in another place.

NTT Communications and ARAV have developed a system to operate excavators and other heavy machinery by remote control.

The system is expected to help with labor shortage and enable restoration work at disaster sites.

Companies involved in the project showed the media an operation room in Tokyo for remotely controlling an excavator at an experimental site about 30 kilometers away in Chiba Prefecture.

The system uses Starlink satellites that communicate with radio wave receivers on Earth.

Workers can take part in reconstruction work in safe places without going to disaster sites or mountainous areas.

Utilizing image-transmission and self-driving technologies, the system is capable of simultaneous operation of multiple machines.

Project officials said the system is expected to be implemented by the end of March 2025.