Japanese are bringing home robots that take care of the elderly, can do routine work, can clean glass exteriors, even attend to babies and replace nurses and attendants in hospitals.
Not merely this, robots are being deployed for tasks so far thought to be impossible for them to tackle. Robots that can help construction, draw architectural plans, do surveillance, de-mine fields, and conduct rescue operations in disaster zones are also finding clientele.
Robots for 3-D prototypes
Latest to join the designing boards are robotic 3-D printers that can produce prototypes of any given object. A great help for designers as well as architects, the printers have been developed by Mutoh Engineering. Shota Sasaoka, Associate General Manager of Mutoh Engineering, says the robotic printer can turn out 3-D prototypes of any kind of toys, automotives, buildings, and dolls by drawing resin wires from feeder wheels.
The company began work on developing this robotic printer five years ago and has now come out with desktop models that can use varied colours and different composites of resin at a time.
The machine is now even being used by a shopping mall (Tokyo Solamachi) to cater to customers who would like their scanned image to be turned into a statue or a doll.
All that one has to do is to stand still for five seconds in front of the scanner. The doll can be fitted with any kind of wig, hat or outfit.
The robots are also being deployed to clean solar panels, glass panels in high-rise structures and floors in place of vacuum cleaners. Industry Network Co. has developed wall-climbing robots which can clean glass exteriors of vertical structures and can even climb and check industrial pipes and hulls of ships. Inspired by reptile Gecko, the robot is mounted over fibrous, magnetic gripper feet pads that stick to the walls. It can possibly include functions like sprinkling water and painting vertical spaces in future.
Robo-clean is a household vacuum cleaner fitted with 1.3 megapixel camera and obstacle-avoiding sensors. It carries a wireless LAN connection and can be remote controlled by an owners Android smart phone or iPhone even while the occupants are out. Fukunishi Corporation has developed robots for cleaning solar panels as grime tends to reduce the efficacy of the panels. It can clean 250 sq. metre of panel space in eight hours.
Hazardous conditions
While in the Japanese context, robots are being deployed where human labour could cost more; the major motivation for robotics industry world over still remains the replacement of human being in hazardous situations.
Faced with shortage of blue-collar workers and tighter visa control that does not allow foreign workers, the Japanese construction industry is getting increasingly dependent upon robots.
These include Mighty Hand robots from Kajima which lift heavy elements such as precast walls, at construction sites.
Similarly SurfoRobo from Takenaka Corporation compacts the concrete floor by two sets of rotary floats. These could be seen in operation at sites where 2020 Olympic stadia are coming up in Tokyo.
A variety of robots are also employed in civil infrastructure laying works like earthmoving, paving of roads and tunnel and bridge construction.
Attuned to working in sophisticated industries, the younger Japanese workforce attributes three Ks i.e., Kitsui (hard), Kitanai (dirty) and Kiken (hazardous) to construction activity.
The trend has however spurred robotisation of the construction industry. The industry has therefore taken upon itself the task of an image makeover by adopting three keywords Productivity, Humanity and Environment.
(The author can be reached at maqsiraj@gmail.com)
A variety of robots are also employed in civil infrastructure laying works like earthmoving, paving of roads and tunnel and bridge construction.
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