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Executive Summary
The increasing globalization of industry in developed countries is rendering
international collaboration more desirable from both economic and technological
perspectives. Robotics technology, in particular, is at a crossroads. Growing con-
sumer demand for individualized products is forcing many manufacturers to shift
to smaller production runs of greater varieties of products, a move that relies on
highly flexible factory automation systems; for robots this means higher-level
intelligence. Further development of robotics technology holds the promise of
robots capable of working in less structured environments-outdoors and in the
home.
The advances in sensing and control technology as well as mechanisms needed
to realize the next generation of robots will rely on programs of basic research too
extensive for any one company or institution to fund. Major gaps in sensing
include cost-effective range sensors for constructing three-dimensional range
maps, vision systems capable of interpreting three-dimensional scenes, and tactile
sensors capable of detecting both patterns and force distributions. Needed in the
area of control are geometric reasoning and control software; techniques for
acquiring process and environmental knowledge; and significant developments in
navigation, control of flexible structures, and control of forces rather than position.
Greater understanding of neural networks as applied to control also is needed. In
terms of the mechanisms that will be required, lighter-weight actuators and
improved transmissions, particularly variable-rang transmissions, will be essential.
Research has been under way in many of these areas for more than 20 years; to
make real headway, it may well require an effort on the order of that for the space
program. In theory, U.S.-Japanese collaboration could both fill the technology
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gaps identified above and yield important cultural benefits in the form of knowl-
edge of how to better set up and manage collaboration within our respective
economies and improved understanding of each other's R&D systems.
The history of U.S.-Japanese collaboration in robotics, however, has left many
U.S. firms skeptical. Because of this, any attempt to identify appropriate areas for
joint research must consider the difficult questions of how to ensure that both U.S.
and Japanese companies are afforded equal opportunity to turn the research into
products and what mechanisms might be devised to afford U.S. companies the
same access to Japanese markets as Japanese firms have to U.S. markets.
Several Japanese initiatives are in place. Japan is promoting international col-
laboration through the Symposium for International Cooperation on Industrial
Robots, the International Robotics and Factory Automation Center, the
International Joint Research Development Program for Next Generation
Production Technology, and the Law for Facilitating Governmental Research
Exchange. A Japanese proposal for an international project, Intelligent
Manufacturing System, was under discussion in early 1990. The United States,
for its part, faces significant challenges in securing needed cooperation among
various funding agencies and making non-defense-related funding available.
Several criteria have been advanced for identifying mutually attractive areas of
cooperation. Projects in areas without prospects for immediate commercialization
are appropriate for consideration as first steps; the benefits of collaboration should
be clear to both sides (neither should have a commanding position; capabilities
should be complementary); and projects should produce concrete outputs in a rela-
tively short (1- to 3-year) period of time.
Several areas of collaboration that might yield projects that meet these criteria
have been identified. Both Japanese and U.S. policymakers are interested in
nuclear emergency and disaster response technologies, which are still in their
infancies. Needs in these areas include radiation-hardened electronics and
autonomous locomotion in human-scale spaces. Robotic applications in health
care, another area of potential collaboration, will rely on the development of
Polaroid range sensors and require greater reliability and precision than have
heretofore been achieved. Collaboration could also be aimed at assessing the
socioeconomic impacts, for example, of man-machine interactions. Potential sub-
jects might include future-oriented issues, such as comparative views of invest-
ment, training, and laboratory-to-factory technology transfer required by corpora-
iions doing business around the world. New approaches needed by both countries
for training and retraining managers and workers in the rationale for and use of
robotics, automation, quality programs, value engineering, and computer technolo-
gy constitute an area of potential collaboration.
This report relates past experience, suggests areas of cooperative effort and cri-
teria for evaluation, and discusses existing and needed frameworks for supporting
collaborative efforts. It will be the challenge of the governments and industrialists
of the United States and Japan to frame additional questions and to initiate steps
toward realizing the next generation of robots.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
range sensors
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