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It looks like a washing machine on wheels, but the bulky contraption vacuuming the hallways of a Tokyo high-rise is a robot. Japanese researchers hope that robots like this one will be the answer to a pressing question hanging over the country -- how to cope with an ageing population and a declining labor force. The vacuuming machine developed by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd is already cleaning floors in about 10 buildings around the country, including a 54-floor skyscraper in central Tokyo. Japanese researchers are racing against time to build robots smart enough to serve the needs of the elderly in a country in which 40 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2055.