A robot that helps you get dressed - for the students at the Kyushu Institute for Technology, this is quite conceivable in the future.

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One topic that Japanese manufacturers have been comparatively slow to address is the development of concepts for the intelligent linking of production processes, as is currently being propagated everywhere in Germany under the label 'Industry 4.0'. For the past two years, however, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been actively encouraging domestic companies to develop comparable concepts under the slogan 'Society 5.0'. As a result, all major Japanese robotics and automation companies are now introducing data collection and analysis solutions to give customers an even deeper understanding of how to gradually improve their production processes - a field in which Japanese companies are traditionally strong.

Japan, on the other hand, has long been a leader in the field of service robots. People there have been used to a high degree of automation in their everyday lives for some time now. For example, there are 4.9 million vending machines in the Land of the Rising Sun, which corresponds to the equivalent of one machine for every 26 people. In addition, the country has the fastest ageing population in the world. More than 2000 people retire every day. And as the population refuses to compensate for this decline by increasing immigration, Japan must make even greater use of the opportunities offered by robotics and the Internet of Things in the future.

With its two arms and two legs, the T-HR3 from Toyota is the starting point for future robot applications in the industrial sector, in care for the elderly and sick or in disaster areas.

© Stieler Technology and Marketing Consulting

Both leading companies and research institutions are therefore working intensively on solutions to the challenges of an ageing society. One of the most popular iREX exhibits from the field of service robotics was the Toyota Humanoid Robot 3 (T-HR3). A special feature of the robot is the so-called torque servo technology, which enables flexible control. It can react appropriately and quickly to any object with which the robot comes into contact - for example, the T-HR3 can grasp a balloon without bursting it. In addition, the two-legged robot demonstrated an impressive sense of balance and gravity - at least as far as its use on stage at iREX was concerned.

Author:
Georg Stieler heads the Shanghai branch of Stieler Technology and Management Consultants.

Japan - robot supplier no. 1

In 2016, Nippon's production capacities reached a new record of 153,000 units. This means that Japanese companies currently cover around 52% of global demand.

According to the latest figures from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), Japan exported almost 115,000 industrial robots worth 309 billion yen (equivalent to around 2.7 billion US dollars) in 2016. The export ratio is 75%. In contrast, Japanese imports of robots are extremely low at only around one percent of installations. Accordingly, foreign robot suppliers only achieved a low sales volume in Japan. Overall, robot sales in Japan itself rose by 10% to around 39,000 units in 2016 - the highest level in the last ten years.