Japan: Kawasaki HI introduces latest robot technology

At an exhibition of industrial robots held in Tokyo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries attracted attention by developing a humanoid robot that works like humans outside factories.

This is a humanoid robot that is supposed to work in a high-level space.

"Kawasaki Heavy Industries is the first manufacturer in Japan to produce industrial robots, licensed in 1968 from Unimation in the United States. It has a history of more than 50 years since then, and I am proud of the technological capability which is cultivated over a very long history," Seiji Amazawa, a representative of Kawasaki Heavy Industries said.

"We have Group Vision 2030, which is appealing for robotics technology in two areas: safety and security in remote societies and mobility in the future. In the area of the safety and security of remote society, we are exhibiting the "HINOTORI," a Medic-aid or a surgical support robot," Amazawa said.

"Throughout the development process, we are developing a robot that has the operability to satisfy the doctor's demand while receiving an opinion from various doctors. So far, it has already been used in about 150 surgeries. There is an inspection system that automates PCR testing in the corona pandemic with a robot, and the results can be received very quickly by automatically inspecting samples brought in by human work," Amazawa added.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is also developing a system that remotely controls factory robots.

"We will provide a platform with the concept that workers at a distant workplace are able to work by operating robots. This is a simple demonstration. We're going to sort the balls of two different colours," Amazawa said.

"This time, we are offering such an experiential demonstration where you can work at a distant place such as by operating a robot from the living room of the home to work robot in a factory," Amazawa further said.

"In the global robot industry, 90 per cent of the world's market is outside of Japan, so we are very focused on the overseas market such as China, the United States, and Europe. In this exhibition, we are proposing a service robot for future life. But it is still mainly for industrial robots to be installed and used in factories," Amazawa explained.

"We have the slogan 'from industrial robot manufacturers to comprehensive robot manufacturers'. This comprehensive robot manufacturer concept is penetrating operating robots in this exhibition such as various delivery robots and remote control robots. We believe that there will be more scenes robots leave the factory and work in various places outside the factory in the future," Amazawa said.

Kawasaki's robot technology aims to create coexistence between robots and human beings.

(ANI)