- Title: JAPAN: The 2001 international robot exhibition
- Date: 20th November 2001
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2001) (REUTERS) DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROBOTS DANCING HUMANOID ROBOT DANCING DENSO'S ROBOT ARMS DEMONSTRATING DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS PEOPLE AT INTERNATIONAL ROBOT EXHIBITION INTERNATIONAL ROBOT EXHIBITION SIGN ADEPT JAPAN CO'S INDUSTRIAL ROBOT PLACING TAGS IN A BOX CAMERA, ZOOM OUT TO COMPUTER SHOWING WHAT ROBOT IS WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese
- Embargoed: 5th December 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAEJB6B8O6KJO3MEJJSJUESOEVR
- Story Text: As Japan trims its labour force in order to face a looming recession robots are becoming more and more indispensable on factory floors and even the office.
When it comes to robots, Japan may be famous for its high-tech toys and cyberpets.
But hidden away behind factory walls, Japan has an army of industrial robots which do not entertain but have helped build up the world's second largest economy.
On Tuesday (November 13) , hundreds of such robots, capable of doing everything from picking up beer bottles to recognizing faces or voices, were on display at the 2001 International Robot Exhibition held in Tokyo, one of the world's largest robot exhibitions.
Of the world's estimated at 65 billion yen (534.8 million U.S. dollar) robot market, Japan has approximately 50 percent of the global market share.
But Japan is not only a prolific maker of robots, it is also a proficient user of industrial robots.
Industrial robots have been considered the foundation for Japan's economic growth, especially in the 1970s and 80s.
While the economic recession has hit Japan's labour force with unemployment closing in to six percent, this market is expected to remain indispensable for the nation's economy to keep growing.
And thanks to recent technological advances, robots can do much more than they used to.
At the Adept Japan Ltd, a robot was picking tags out of a pile and putting them neatly onto trays so that the tags faced the same direction.
Robots used not to be so accurate, but thanks to cameras linked to a computer that is able to recognise the tags, the tag's direction and the orientation of the tray, the robot is able to accomplish the task which, until recently, could only be done by humans.
Robot manufacturing firm officials say due to the increasing sophistication of robots, these gadgets will soon be able to take over tasks that humans continue to toil over now.
This could be good news for Japanese companies trying to scale back their work force due to the looming recession.
"Regardless of whether the economy is good or bad, human beings should do jobs that only they can do and other jobs which are dirty or dangerous can be done by robots. In that way human beings can concentrate on things like creating new businesses. I think we have an opportunity to develop our business in this sense," said Shigenori Murakami, director of Adept Japan Co, Ltd.
At Fanuc Ltd's booth, a robot was picking up 20 beer bottles at once and packing them quickly into plastic crates.
Another robot capable of lifting up to 400 kilos -- the largest payload for robots programmed to lift things -- was moving stacks of crates.
Another robot had been programmed to tidy up things. The robot arm picked up metal parts left in disarray and neatly stacked the metal parts on top of each other.
"The manufacturing industry today is the core of world's economy. Everybody wants to make high quality products as cheaply as possible. Some companies move their factories overseas (where labour costs are cheaper) but other companies use robots to make their products close to where the market is," said Atsushi Watanabe, senior vice president of Fanuc Ltd, the world's largest industrial robot company.
"What we offer is robots which are able to produce high quality products at cheap costs near the market -- this is the main intent of what we call the 'intelligent robot'," he said.
But the exhibition also displayed a softer side to robots.
The Muu, an eyeballed shaped robot that its creators say can strike up small talk, was popular among visitors. Though for some the beauty of robots could be in the eye of the beholder. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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