TOKYO — Japanese robot makers have begun pushing advanced models that can work side by side with people on production lines, seeing growing demand among manufacturers concerned about crowded factories turning into COVID-19 hotbeds.

In contrast to conventional industrial robots, which operate at high speeds and must be kept away from human workers for safety reasons, these so-called collaborative robots move more slowly and can detect and avoid people. They have grown in popularity amid the pandemic, sharply boosting productivity while letting employees avoid working close to one another.

Fanuc plans to ramp up production in 2021 of its new CRX line of collaborative robots, first rolled out in June. It will triple current monthly output at its main factory in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture but has not disclosed specific production numbers.

Mitsubishi Electric has installed dozens of its own collaborative robots across its production facilities in Japan, Europe and North America. It aims to sell 1,000 units a year at 4 million yen ($37,600) each, though the price has been cut to 2 million yen for this month.

The company has already received orders from food companies for robots that can handle such tasks as putting packaged items into boxes. The robots can accommodate cameras, hands and other attachments developed by customers to facilitate use in a wide variety of settings.

Shibaura Machine will begin selling robots in 2021 that feature arms attached to a torsolike structure, enabling them to tighten screws, for example. The company expects demand from home appliance manufacturers.

The pandemic is pushing manufacturers to try to avoid what the Japanese government calls the “three C’s”: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings — which can promote the spread of the virus. Many are assigning robots to tasks for which they previously relied on humans.

U.S. research firm MarketsandMarkets sees the worldwide market for industrial robots swelling eightfold from 2020 to $7.97 billion by 2026.

Danish company Universal Robots boasts a 50%-plus share of the global market for collaborative robots, while Japanese players have lagged behind. With demand expected to rise in China — already the world’s largest buyer of industrial robots — as labor grows harder to come by, competition to stay on the cutting edge is sure to be intense.

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TOKYO (Reuters) – In August, a robot vaguely resembling a kangaroo will begin stacking sandwiches, drinks and ready meals on shelves at a Japanese convenience store in a test its maker, Telexistence, hopes will help trigger a wave of retail automation.

Following that trial, store operator FamilyMart says it plans to use robot workers at 20 stores around Tokyo by 2022. At first, people will operate them remotely – until the machines’ artificial intelligence (AI) can learn to mimic human movements. Rival convenience store chain Lawson is deploying its first robot in September, according to Telexistence.

“It advances the scope and scale of human existence,” the robot maker’s chief executive, Jin Tomioka, said as he explained how its technology lets people sense and experience places other than where they are.

The idea, dubbed telexistence, was first proposed by the start up’s co-founder, University of Tokyo professor Susumu Tachi, four decades ago.

Their company has received funding from technology investment company Softbank Group and cell phone service operator KDDI in Japan, with overseas investors including European passenger aircraft maker Airbus SE. It dubbed its robot the Model T, a nod to the Ford Motor car that began the era of mass motoring a century ago.

Its quirky design is meant to help shoppers feel at ease because people can feel uncomfortable around robots that look too human.

ESCAPING FACTORIES

Robots are still a rare sight in public. Although they can outperform humans in manufacturing plants built around them, they struggle with simple tasks in more unpredictable urban settings.

Solving that performance problem could help businesses in industrialised nations, particularly those in rapidly ageing Japan, cope with fewer workers. Firms hit by the coronavirus outbreak may also need to operate with fewer people.

Since the outbreak started, hotels, restaurants and even gas and oil companies have contacted Telexistence, Tomioka said.

“It’s difficult to tell now what impact robots might have in restaurants – it could mean fewer people, but it could also create new jobs,” said Niki Harada, an official at Japan’s Restaurant Workers Union.

Using human operators with virtual reality goggles and motion-sensor controls to train its machines slashes the cost of retail robotics compared with complex programming that can cost 10 times more than as the hardware and take months to complete, Telexistence says.

Although FamilyMart will still need humans to control its robots, operators can be anywhere and include people who would not normally work in stores, said Tomohiro Kano, a general manager in charge of franchise development.

“There are about 1.6 million people in Japan, who for various reasons are not active in the workforce,” he said.

Future telexistence robots could also be used in hospitals so doctors could perform operations from remote locations, predicted Professor Takeo Kanade, an AI and robotics scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, who joined Telexistence in February as an adviser.

It might take another 20 years before robots can work in people’s homes, however, he said.

“In order for robots to be really usable at home we really have to be able to communicate. The fundamental thing that is lacking is knowing how humans behave.”

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The Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) runs a competitive Summer Program Fellowship Award scheme each year, offering 23 placements to UK applicants to carry out research at a partner institution in Japan for around two months.

Kyle, who is in the first year of his PhD studies, will travel to Tohoku University in the Sendai region of Japan to work in Professor Satoshi Tadokoro’s Disaster Robotics Laboratory for a period of around two months between July 2020 and March 2021.

Underwater vehicles

Kyle is currently working on improving the accuracy and safety of underwater vehicles for performing inspection and maintenance on structures such as offshore renewables. He is particularly interested in how underwater vehicles perform in shallow and harsh environments and aims to push the limits of current technologies in this area.

Kyle’s research seeks to develop advanced robots capable of safely and accurately performing underwater operations in the place of humans, thereby removing some of the danger associated with working in harsh marine environments and reducing operational costs.

Kyle’s supervisor, Dr Francesco Giorgio-Serchi, who is Chancellor’s Fellow at the School of Engineering, commented: “Kyle is currently involved in a very ambitious project with remarkable economic and societal potential. At present, using underwater vehicles for operation on submerged structures subject to adverse weather is an extremely daunting task and few research groups have attempted it. This makes operation and maintenance of offshore systems extremely costly and unsafe.”

Exploring soft robotics

Kyle currently uses advanced control methods in his research, but his travels to Japan will enable him to combine these with further innovative methods, including developing ‘soft’ robotic manipulators as another solution to the problem.

Kyle explained: “I will focus on developing soft manipulators which can bend and form shapes currently unattainable by rigid link manipulators. The idea is to have a manipulator which can bend into a complex shape and then stiffen on demand, so that the underwater vehicle can use this to grasp onto structures to maintain a position.”

New opportunities

The fellowship will provide Kyle with opportunities which would otherwise not have been possible. Reacting to the reward, he said: “Not only will I be conducting my research in a country which has produced some of the most advanced robotics to date, but I have the chance to spend two months in an entirely different culture and research environment which really excites me. “I’m hoping that it will lead to a lasting international collaboration with both the disaster robotics laboratory and the wider University to conduct some really interesting research.”

Dr Francesco Giorgio-Serchi added, “Despite being in the early stages of his PhD, Kyle has already shown great determination in establishing international collaborations. This prestigious fellowship will allow Kyle to spend two months at the Disaster Robotics Lab of Tohoku University in Sendai, which is a great opportunity both for Kyle and for our School to further tighten the links with world-renowned robotics laboratories.”

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