Japan is ready for the robotics era

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is drafting a nine-year program (starting April 1, 2007) to bring robots into human service, according to the Yomiuri daily .

According to the above program, the first four years of this program will be the pre-application phase of the robot, while the next five years are the application phase. After this period will be the time when bringing robots into everyday life is universal and popular.

In order to encourage implementation of the program, the Japanese Ministry of Economy will reward private companies or institutions to participate, and in the first year it will extract a budget of 1,900 billion yen (nearly 16 billion USD) to help with the design. technologies for ' smart robots '. The focus of the first phase is to build robots that can grasp soft objects, distinguish images and avoid obstacles.

By the spring of 2009, the research groups that presented the optimal results would be selected to continue their design. The goal of this stage is to create technologies for the robots to . look after the sick or nurse. This task is particularly important in Japanese society, where people are aging while fertility is low.

The robotic suit (left) allows an average person to lift 70-80kg, or carry on a shoulder weighing up to 100kg.This suit can be worn in rescue work or when heavy labor is required (Photo: Reuters)

On the other hand, it can be seen from this program that the Japanese government's aspirations want to stimulate the robotics industry as one of the driving forces for future Japanese economy. According to the Japanese Government, in the fiscal year 2010, the robot market size will reach 1,800 billion yen, and after five years it will be up to 3,100 billion yen (about 26 billion USD at the current exchange rate).

TRAN DUC THANH