GetRobo Blog English

Toyota to buy Sony's robotics division

  A big, yes HUGE, scoop for Nikkei Business - the leading business magazine in Japan.

  Toyota is buying Sony's robotics division, including the AIBO, QRIO and the people that work on them. The details such as timing and financial terms are not known to GetRobo at this minute because Nikkei Business has only podcasted the outline of its story, and the other Japanese media outlets have not yet reported on it.

  But according to the podcast, the deal came about from Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho who was on the board at Sony when Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer decided to get rid of the money losing divison. Toyota has been working on robots for a while but a Toyota executive in the Nikkei Business article willingly admits that it's work in the "intelligence" does not meet its strength in mechanics. Purchasing Sony's division will fill that gap.

  As Yoshiya Sato, editor-in-chief of Nikkei Business comments in the podcast, the deal is indeed a "gorgeous combination" of companies.

  Sony's response here.

  And an update on this here.

Industrial Robot Giant Interested in Robots for Consumers

  Yaskawa Electric - one of the world's largest industrial robot manufacturers - is interested in developing and selling more robots outside of the factory floors. Recently it's MOTOMAN robots were found playing the traditional Japanese drums at a large summer festival in southern Japan (you can read about the drum beating robots on NewScientist.com) but the company has other projects under works.

  One is the Robo Porter. I had a chance to see it at Yaskawa's headquarters in Kitakyushu in the end of July and below is a video that I took then.

  Yaskawa is just about to start using the Robo Porters inside its own factory where they will carry around the circuit boards that are used to make other robots. But the sophisticated wheels provide easy turns and smooth rides and it should be fit for other mobile robots - such as wheelchairs and airport porters - says Kazuhiko Yokoyama, Manager of the RT Technology Team at Yaskawa's R&D Center.

  Another project at Yaskawa is the SmartPal. Yaskawa initially developed this robot to prove that it can manufacture a robot from interchangeable units. Yaskawa currently sells industrial robots as a "system," but it is thinking of starting to make money from selling "units" and "components" as well. This strategy is better for the consumer/service robot market because unlike industrial robots, "each robot will need to be highly customized and one company can't possibly make a product from ground up" according to Yokoyama.

  Consumer robot manufacturers will have to buy units to build a product for a ceratin need and that's where Yaskawa would like to do its business. In other words, Yaskawa would like to sell the units that it developed to make SmartPal so that its customers can use it in their products.

  Yokoyama (shown below with SmartPal) predicts that his company's unit/component business will eventually exceed its system business.

    

Rescue robot after the quake - Interview with tmsuk CEO

  Robot manufacturer tmsuk Co. announced its newest rescue robot T-53 Enryu on July 17, a day after a major earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture of central Japan.

  Three weeks later, the company dispatched the robot to the devastated area so that it can help with cleaning up the debris. You can read a recent post on Engadget about T-53 Enryu – which name means the “helping dragon” in Japanese.

  The voluntary mission is important to tmsuk which wants to prove to the local governments that Enryu indeed is helpful so that they would decide to buy the robots.   

I got to talk with Yoichi Takamoto, founder and CEO of tmsuk, at his company in southern Japan in the end of July. Takamoto started tmsuk back in year 2000 thinking he wanted to develop robots that were not just fun and entertaining - which he thought too many Japanese companies were already focusing on - but that were useful. He thought robots foremost should be able to replace humans working on life-threatening tasks and since he wasn’t interested in working on military robots, he decided to develop robots that can be used in relief efforts.

Thus Enryu. T-53 Enryu can be operated both onboard and remotely and it’s two arms can pick up 100 kg each.

The Japanese government is trying to nurture and promote the country’s robot industry and has been increasing its funding into the research and development of related technologies.

But interestingly enough, Takamoto says the main obstacle right now is the fact that the Japanese government is reluctant to buy Enryu because “there is no precedent.” “No on has ever bought a rescue robot before and nobody wants to take the responsibility of being the first to do so,” explains Takamoto.

So now Takamoto is thinking of first selling his robot abroad. He has received inquiries from several Asian countries which are interested in either purchasing T-53 Enryu or teaming up with tmsuk to develop their own rescue robots. But ironically, says Takamoto, he is hearing rumors that the Japanese government is a bit demurred about his company spilling out the technology to countries abroad.

Takamoto is perplexed. “I need a precedent to be able to sell within Japan and now the government is trying to prevent me from making that precedent.”  Figuring out a way to break out of this dilemma is of course his primary occupation.

  Meanwhile, tmsuk’s robot will make its first landing in the U.S.in September. The biped samurai robot Kiyomori can be seen at the WIRED NextFest in Los Angeles.

(Photo: Takamoto with Kiyomori being prepared to be shipped to the U.S.)

Kitakyushu City to Find Out Robot Killer Applications

  So what kind of robots do people want anyway? This is the question that the city of Kitakyushu in southern Japan would like to be answered in the next year.  

　A handful of Japanese municipalities are seriously working on becoming “Robot City” – meaning fostering a strong robotics industry to boost their local economies – and Kitakyushu is one of them. Kitakyushu prides itself in being the home to Yaskawa Electric, one of the world’s largest industrial robot manufacturers.

  Starting this fall, public servants of the city will be visiting local hospitals and senior homes to find out what kinds of jobs the workers there would like to replace with robots.

　Says Takehiko Ishimatsu, a manager at the city’s New Industry Promotion Division who will be leading the effort, “We’d like to find out what the needs are and forward that information to the companies and universities so that they can come up with new robots.” The initial focus will be on elderly and medical care but eventually he would like to visit banks and retail stores as well to research on what their needs are.

 

(PHOTO: The robot team of Kitakyushu City.From left, Mayumi Oda, Takehiko Ishimatsu, Jin Nakano)

  “Sure, one day we may be able to have humanoid robots helping us at home. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon and we’d rather give the companies a near term goal,” says Jin Nakano, also of the city government who will be helping Ishimatsu with this effort.

   “So far most of the robots have been productized from the manufacturer’s viewpoint, and in some cases the robots are too difficult to use or have unnecessary functions. It’s extremely important for the manufacturers to understand the actual needs of potential users,” explains Mayumi Oda, Director of the Robotics Development Support Office at FAIS, an organization that focuses on government, industry and academia cooperation.

  Will Kitakyushu share the results of its research? The needs of elderly care workers may be universal and the information could be useful worldwide. But Ishimatsu says that is “undecided.” GetRobo will have to catch up with them sometime next year.

Keepon at WIRED NextFest

The yellow snowman robot Keepon will be on stage with Spoon at the WIRED NextFest concert and WIRED has made a great video. The "mad scientist" in the video is Hideki Kozima - the man that developed the robot - himself. The cute creation was born out of a cooperation between Kozima-san and Marek Michalowski who programmed Keepon to dance.  More on the robot on this website, Robots Dreams and Loving the Machine.