Japan uses drones to urge employees to go home and rest

Launched on December 7, the 'T-Friend' drone is tasked with urging employees who work late to go home.

Drones fly around the office and send a 'door close' signal to any employees still working overtime.

"T-Friend" is set to play "Auld Lang Syne", a Scottish song used in Japan to announce when stores are about to close.

Developed by Blue Innovation, office security company Taisei and telecom operator NTT East, the drone comes with a camera that allows for remote tracking. It can operate in places without GPS and is programmed to fly a route and return on its own.

The paths of these planes can be programmed.

T-Friend is said to be a tool to try to curb Japan's obsession with deadline pressure, which has killed thousands.

"You can't really work when the drone can come at any time and start playing Auld Lang Syne with a buzz," Taisei director Norihiro Kato told Japan Today. Developers are also planning to incorporate facial recognition technology into the drone to see who's still working after hours and identify any illegal intruders.

In Japan, more and more people commit suicide because of work pressure.

Many Japanese companies now ban employees from overworking, an effort that has been blamed on the country’s rising suicide rate due to work pressure. Dentsu, which lost a 24-year-old advertising employee to suicide in December 2015, implemented a “lights out, no work” policy after 10 p.m. in October 2016. Other companies in Japan have banned work after 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Japan Times notes.

According to Ngoisao.net