Advanced manufacturing technologies and skills: they make a cornerstone of a country. Due to the aging society, skill transfer of expert technicians who are responsible for these advancements may be at risk in the near future ———— Currently, many companies in the manufacturing industry are raising a red flag to this problem. And it is a problem not only for Japan but for many developed countries treading on the border of the 100-year-life era. In this light, a new robot system that shows promise in solving the problem of skill transfer has been unveiled. Kawasaki put on display its new robot system during the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) 2017 (Nov. […]

The obstacles in robot automation Recently, industrial robots have been working for various tasks previously performed by humans. An example is the spot-welding robots found in automobile factories that melt and attach separate steel plate parts together with heat. Yet, obstacles still exist to achieve automation by robots; did you know that in the manufacturing industry, most of the work is still accomplished by humans and only about 3% (※1) is conducted by robots? In order to deploy robots in manufacturing processes, it is necessary to instruct them beforehand through the process of programming. An engineer with expertise in robot programming specifies each movement, and only then can it be […]