Humanoid robots
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Imagine a future where humanoid robots are dispatched to disaster sites or play a key support role in elderly care. Although a scene from a science-fiction movie might spring to mind, many people may find it hard to imagine how robots would actually function in the real world. One company working in earnest to practicalize humanoid robots is Kawasaki Heavy Industries, or Kawasaki. Two years have passed since the company debuted its concept humanoid robot at the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) 2017. At iREX 2019, held at Tokyo Big Sight from December 18 to 21, 2019, Kawasaki unveiled Kaleido, an evolved version humanoid robot equipped for a role in real-world […]
Society has been expanding its expectations of the role robots play, looking at them to combat issues such as a declining population due to an aging society and frequently occurring natural disasters.Collaborative robots (cobots) are attracting the attention of industries—some can coexist and work in the same space as humans, and others cooperate with humans working on the same operations. With robots helping take over tasks physically demanding on humans, or supporting humans in an operation, new approaches in how humans and robots work together and new social systems are gradually appearing. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, or Kawasaki, whose robotics business has a history dating back over 50 years, is a […]
The growing issue of workforce shortages Currently, Japan is on the verge of becoming an aging society with a low birthrate, unlike any other in the world. The total population of Japan peaked in 2008, amounting to 128.08 million people, but has since been on the decline at a rate of approximately 100,000 people per year. According to the “Population Projections for Japan: 2016 to 2065” conducted by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan (IPSS), the population is projected to fall below 100 million by the year 2053. The results of these projections have led to concerns about the growing issue of workforce shortages. In […]
The International Robot Exhibition 2017 (iREX2017) was held at Tokyo Big Sight from November 29 to December 2, 2017. The massive venue housed numerous robots not only from all over Japan but also from the entire globe! The majority of the robots were single-arm or dual-arm industrial robots, but there were a few humanoid robots exhibited. It was like a scene from sci-fi anime in a real life! Of the many booths, the one from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, or Kawasaki, attracted many visitors who were gazing at each of the models with keen interest. Kawasaki exhibited humanoid robots to mark the 50th anniversary in their history of robotics business this year. The company has mainly focused […]
It is an open platform, so anyone can take on the challenge of robot development if they have the initiative. Where there are smartphones, there are applications. With Apple and Google having made their app stores available to the general public, engineers and third-party vendors from all over the world have entered the race of developing smartphone apps. There was even a term, “app millionaire”, to describe the people who can earn millions by sales of apps entirely based on the quality of their apps, without the knowledge of hardware design. These apps make the smartphones as the platform more attractive, generating an increase in the number of smartphone users, which in turn […]
What lies ahead in the evolution of humanoid robots? Humanoid robots are robots with a human form. Robots such as Astro Boy have been familiar from Japanese manga and anime worlds since long ago, but in the real world, little progress had been made in putting them into practical use due to difficulties with control and other issues. When he started running the story of Astro Boy in 1951, Osamu Tezuka set the birth of his creation Astro Boy as April 7, 2003. More than 10 years has already passed since that date, with no appearance of Astro Boy in the real world. However, in recent years, with extraordinary progress […]