The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Chairman: Tamotsu Saito) announced the "Comprehensive Action Plan for R&D and Social Implementation in the Field of Robotics," which outlines and reviews the direction for promoting the utilization of robots. The plan contributes to solving social issues, formulating a strategy for robotics technology, and initiating projects at an early stage.
The action plan was developed by a committee consisting of experts from academia and industry in eight sectors where the utilization of robots is expected. These sectors include manufacturing, food production, logistics and warehousing, and agriculture. The "Action Plan for Accelerating Social Implementation" outlines short‐term measures required for realization of the ideal state by 2030. The "Action Plan for Building Next‐Generation Technology Infrastructure" outlines measures to create mid‐ to long‐term impacts by 2035.
Maintaining and expanding the GDP despite a declining working population, minimizing the burden on the global environment, and enhancing the resilience of economic and social infrastructures are pressing social issues in Japan. Due to this, expectations for the utilization of robots to improve productivity and create new industries, are growing steadily.
In the "Survey for the Formulation of a Comprehensive R&D Action Plan in the Field of Robotic Technology," NEDO considered it necessary to promote the utilization of robots and the robotics industry through exit‐oriented initiatives that consider a holistic view of the robotic system. Accordingly, a Robot Action Plan was formulated to promote actions in both the acceleration of social implementation and the establishment of next‐generation technology infrastructure.
The action plan was developed through discussions within the Expert Committee on the Formulation of the Robot Action Plan, consisting of experts from academia and industry. The committee examined issues in each sector where the utilization of robots is expected, with emphasis on the individual nature of the issues.
As a result, eight sectors were targeted for the action plans based on their marketability, social impact, the availability of a base for robot utilization, and the need for further public‐private partnerships by 2035. These sectors include manufacturing, food production, facility management, retail and food services, logistics and warehousing, agriculture, infrastructure maintenance, and construction.
Furthermore, for future initiatives, the committee extracted short‐term measures, targeting the year 2030 with the "Action Plan for Accelerating Social Implementation." Measures focused on creating mid‐ to long‐term impacts by the year 2035 are specified in the "Action Plan for Building Next‐Generation Technology Infrastructure."
It was concluded that promoting actions in both social implementation and next‐generation technology development would be effective for these two action plans: the "Action Plan for Accelerating Social Implementation" will first accelerate sector‐specific social implementation to expand the utilization of robots. Simultaneously, the "Action Plan for Building Next‐Generation Technology Infrastructure" will advance technologies for elements that serve as materials for combination to provide new technological options for social implementation.
In developing the "Action Plan for Accelerating Social Implementation," measures required to accelerate social implementation were extracted from the perspectives of both technological development and environmental improvement. Based on the needs across eight sectors where the utilization of robots is expected, technology development is organized into five areas: manipulation, mobility, interaction, digital infrastructure and intelligence, and integration.
Environmental improvement is organized into five areas: physical environment improvement; business design and operation design; Robot System Integrator, human resources and vendor training; new service creation and business model formation; and awareness‐raising and regulatory compliance. Agile public‐private partnerships, including environmental improvement in cooperative areas, such as technology development and standardization, will be crucial in resolving issues applicable to each of the aforementioned sectors.
The "Action Plan for Building Next ‐Generation Technology Infrastructure" focuses on the impact on each sector and outlines the direction of technology development in the same five sectors that will be critical toward achieving the goals set for the year 2035 based on technology development trends.
NEDO will continue to consider future applications, extracted as the Robot Action Plan, for use in national projects and social implementation based on technological development and environmental improvement actions.
This article has been translated by JST with permission from The Science News Ltd. (https://sci-news.co.jp/). Unauthorized reproduction of the article and photographs is prohibited.