Yomiuri Shimbun
Three manufacturers, including Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co. and Toshiba Corp., and four research
institutions will begin full-scale testing of so-called
network robots, which have long-distance communication
capabilities, on the streets of Kansai Science City in
Seikacho, Kyoto Prefecture, in fiscal 2005, The Yomiuri
Shimbun learned Friday.
Aiming to find practical applications for robots developed
with cutting-edge technology, the group of manufacturers and
researchers will test the communication robots with the goal
of using them as guides or for transporting visitors within
the science city. Seikacho will be designated as a special
area for robot experimentation by the central government.
Robot experiments on public roads are only allowed in
designated areas.
Trial efforts to revitalize local business by nurturing the
robot industry are also being undertaken in other districts.
The firms decided to join with institutions to establish
unified standards for robots and to make the Kansai standards
the world standards.
The group aims to develop various types of robots,
including guides that will help people when they are lost and
pass the information on to other robots.
Seikacho-based Advanced Telecommunications Research
Institute International (ATR), which is known for robot
research, and Nara Institute of Science and Technology
(NAIST), will join the project.
In the first two years, the group will set up a model town
for experiments in the science city. The group will also ask
the Kyoto prefectural government for support for testing in
residential areas near the science city.
The central government has already designated several other
prefectures, including Fukuoka and Kanagawa, as special
experimental areas. The network robot will be tested for the
first time in these areas.
Robots are expected to assist the elderly and physically
disabled when they go out of their homes. And the network
robot is expected to play an important role in crime
prevention and in the medical and welfare fields by linking
the robots with electric appliances.
The researchers consider the development of the network
robot as a core future technology. The Internal Affairs and
Communications Ministry predicted that robotics and related
industries will grow to a market worth 20 trillion yen in
2013.
