{"id":9005,"date":"2023-10-30T19:02:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/global-expansion-of-the-taiwan-international-tools-hardware-expo-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T19:03:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:03:47","slug":"japan-trade-show-provides-glimpse-of-robots-as-future-of-rescue-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aatworld.com\/ar\/japan-trade-show-provides-glimpse-of-robots-as-future-of-rescue-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan trade show provides glimpse of robots as future of rescue operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Etienne BALMER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a drone camera, a survivor is spotted in the rubble. A robot on tracks brings him water while rescuers in exoskeletons clear an escape route for an autonomous stretcher to take her to safety.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the futuristic vision on display at the Japan Mobility Show, aiming to exhibit how technology can help and sometimes replace humans in a country short of workers and no stranger to disasters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, so as not to alarm people, the imaginary tragedy is caused by Godzilla, who has unleashed catastrophe in Japanese disaster films since the 1950s. In Japan, nearly 30 percent of the country\u2019s population is 65 or older.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the decline of the population there are fewer and fewer people available for dangerous tasks,\u201d said Tomoyuki Izu, founder of Attrac Lab, a local start-up specializing in autonomous mobility.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy idea is to help people such as firefighters with my machines,\u201d Izu, 61, said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Attrac Lab that codeveloped the small delivery robot squeezing through the cardboard rubble at the Japan Mobility Show and designed the remote-control stretcher on wheels or tracks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the Japanese government favors \u201ctraditional equipment\u201d for relief efforts, he said at the event, which opened to the public yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Izu believes there will eventually be a market for more advanced technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of anime with humanoid robots in Japan, and therefore people love them, but these kinds of autonomous vehicles are still very strange for them,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2016, Japan\u2019s Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (KHI) has been developing Kaleido, a robust humanoid robot capable of delicately lifting and moving injured people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the future, this robot will be able to save people, or go to dangerous zones, like fires,\u201d said Itsuki Goda from the robotics division of KHI.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He conceded that the machine needs more development on its scanning capabilities to get through difficult terrain.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need more years of development if we want to use it in real situations, where conditions are always different,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaleido\u2019s current load capacity of 60kg would be increased soon with a new prototype, Goda said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price is also an issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, this robot is \u201cmaybe 10 times more expensive than a human, but if we produce 10,000 of them per year, the price will go down rapidly,\u201d Goda added.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, another niche segment has exploded: robots to clear up disaster areas that are difficult or dangerous to access.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineering firm Sugino Machine Ltd presented a powerful, but small, robotic arm rigged on crawlers that can work in areas that emergency workers cannot go.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The machine was built in 2018 for a nationally run atomic research agency, as Japan continues the work to decommission the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis can be used for initial damage assessment or to remove debris or to remove heavy items that people cannot lift,\u201d said Akira Inujima from Sugino Machine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools can be attached to its arm, such as image, temperature or radioactivity sensors, or a high-pressure water lance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a shortage of labor. It is difficult to go all robot, but we can offer solutions to help people\u2019s work,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter Fukushima, we have been able to continue technological development because there has been project after project [heavily supported by the government], like removing debris, that needs our work,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to continue this work and not make this fade away.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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