Symposium

　Keynote message: Principles of Creating Innovation

SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research and technology development organization, was founded by Stanford University as the Stanford Research Institute. Besides its headquarters in California, the organization operates 20 facilities in Europe and Asia. SRI conducts research on engineering systems, information technology, healthcare, education, politics and economics and many other fields. SRI International invented the computer mouse. The da Vinci, a remote control robotic surgical system and Shakey, an autonomous mobile robot are among its famous inventions in the robot technology development field.

We emphasize the importance of Marketability, Innovation and Value Creation in research and development. Commercial application is an important principle. Then five other principles including meeting user needs, delivering value add systems, leading innovation, creating a team focused on innovation, and fostering cooperation across the organization will be SRI’s sources of development power. Developing products in accordance with these principles creates better products. Designing better robots leads to adding value. We will continue to apply best practices and focus on research that leads to commercial applications in our future development policies.

We recognize Japan’s leadership in the robot industry and welcome this opportunity that contributes to technological development in both Japan and the United States.

　Keynote message: Creating markets for service robots

Fuji Heavy Industries received this award for their project titled Building a Cleaning System Using Robots. The human resources utilized for cleaning in Japan is largely comprised of elderly people and working hours are mainly late at night or early in the morning. As well, running the background checks required for security clearance is costly and demand is increasing for high-quality cleaning to consistent standards because in line with the needs of modern industrial environments. We developed robots to address these issues and meet market expectations.

To popularize robots for building cleaning, we needed to develop robots that could independently operate elevators and thereby enable single units to clean several floors. The costs associated with introducing robotic cleaners cannot compete with the cost of human cleaners if the robots can only clean a single floor. As a result, we improved the ability of robots to clean entire high-rise buildings such as the Harumi Triton Square, Roppongi Hills and others. Initially we developed cleaning systems for only building halls, lobby and other common areas. At the International Robot Exhibition 2009 we introduced robotic systems that also clean private areas of office tenants.

Our future goals include introducing robotic cleaners to other environments besides private office buildings and units that ride together with people in elevators. By incorporating high safety standards, we are examining ways of overcoming financial obstacles. The attention robots have received recently make people think robots are becoming our master. However robots are servants for use in various situations as machines. There is a huge potential market available.

　Keynote message: The Industrial Robot’s Growing Acceptance and Capabilities

Fanuc Ltd., an industrial machinery manufacturer specializing in developing numerical controls won the award in 2007 with their pair of M-430iA robots, enabling high-speed handling visual tracking functions. The two robot arms are designed to pick up and arrange objects or parts from a conveyor belt at high speed. At the time of the award, this system was processing 120 objects per minute. Currently however this capacity has been improved to 200 objects per minute. Resin-based parts and enhanced cleaning ability made it possible to apply these automated systems in the pharmaceutical industry.
We believe the mission of robots is to free humans from working in undesirable conditions, extreme or dirty environments and at low salaries. There are advantages to using robots instead of people, such as ensuring consistent quality, handling materials people cannot or processing extremely heavy loads.

We continue to pursue our robot development policy of integrating machine tools into intelligent robots. In particular, we believe that intelligent robots can play the role of some human workers. Productivity growth is becoming increasingly important because of Japan’s declining birth rate and the growing number of elderly in our society. We expect cooperating with robots will provide products of superior quality at ever higher speeds.

Tomy Company Ltd. won the award for the world’s smallest humanoid robot i-SOBOT, well balanced and 16.5cm high with a wide variety of motion. Users can easily program a series of actions by the robot with the controller. This unit has become the most favorite robot around the world. The robot received certification from Guinness World Records as the world’s smallest mass produced bipedal humanoid robot.
One of the reasons i-SOBOT was available at such a low price was its use of Eneloops nickel hydride batteries. These batteries increased the overall weight of robot body but avoided the cost of developing custom lithium batteries and provided sufficient energy savings.
Mass production was another reason for i-SOBOT’s low market price. Other current humanoid robots are created for educational, entertainment and other niche markets aimed primarily at children. The i-SOBOT was not intended for any particular age group or target market. As a toy or for entertainment purposes, the robot can please anyone and it can also be used as a great educational tool to teach robot engineering or physics.

The potential market increases five-fold when robots are sold worldwide. Aiming at a broad market made mass production and lower prices possible. Through toys like i-SOBOT, we hope to help raise healthy children who will become the future foundation of Japan.