Deregulation at heart of Japan's new robotics revolution
19/11/2014 21:00
By Sophie Knight and Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Neurosurgeon Tetsuya Goto had just
begun testing a robot to perform brain surgery when he
discovered Japan was moving to tighten regulations that would
shut down his seven-year project.
Over the next dozen years he watched in frustration as the
da Vinci, a rival endoscopic robot that U.S. regulators had
already approved, became a commercial success while his and
other Japanese prototypes languished in laboratories.
Japan, with the world's largest robot population, is now
awakening to a crisis as its lead in robotics - one of its last
areas of technological prominence - comes under threat from
better-coordinated efforts in the United States and Germany, as
well as Asian rivals South Korea and China.
As robots advance from the factory floor into homes,
hospitals, shops and even war zones, officials hope to spur a
new "robotics revolution" by rewriting rules that researchers
say have stifled innovation.
"We think robotics can make Japan competitive again," said
Atsushi Mano, director of robotic technology at the trade
ministry's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GRAPHIC-Robotics revolution:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/robots/index.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
The agency has recruited Kawasaki Heavy Industries 7012.T
and Panasonic Corp 6752.T to make a rival to the da Vinci that
could perform more intricate tasks, such as removing pancreatic
tumours, while a surgeon manipulates its controls.
At stake is a fast-growing industry - the market for
industrial robotic systems is worth $29 billion a year worldwide
according to the International Federation of Robotics.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in June, when he
unveiled a framework for sweeping regulatory reforms, that he
expected Japan's robot market alone to triple to 2.4 trillion
yen ($21 billion) by 2020.
Healthcare robotics is tiny now but has vast potential -
such services are expected to overtake industrial uses within 10
years in the Japanese robot market.
The new surgical robot, part of a 5 billion yen medical
robotics programme that aims to have products in clinical trials
by 2019, should have an easier time than Goto faced with
regulators.
"If you asked the authorities, they wouldn't say they kept
medical devices from reaching the market, but as far as
academics and companies are concerned they stopped Japanese
research cold," said Goto, a professor at Shinshu University in
central Japan.
Abe, who has called a snap election for next month to seek a
renewed mandate for his "Abenomics" economic policies, has
promised deregulation and structural reform to foster industrial
growth as a two-year stimulus drive falters. ID:nL3N0T84L7
RIVAL ROBOTS
A key trigger to action was Google Inc's GOOGL.O surprise
acquisition a year ago of Schaft, a venture led by two former
Tokyo University professors who developed a humanoid robot that
handily won a rescue competition run by a research unit of the
U.S. Department of Defense. The robot had to drive a utility
vehicle and climb a ladder to prevail against more than a dozen
rivals.
"Everyone associates bipedal robots with Japan so it was a
shock that even that was being pulled away," said Waseda
University Professor Masakatsu Fujie.
The U.S. robotics industry has been powered in large part by
the military, which provides funding and field testing for
drones and disaster-relief robots, while Silicon Valley has
nurtured innovations in artificial intelligence and autonomous
systems such as Google's self-driving car.
"To be honest, the U.S. is a concern," said Osamu Sudo, who
helped to craft Japan's robotics strategy as director of the
industrial machinery division at the trade ministry, where he
served until early July.
Other countries are also pushing robotics to the forefront
of industrial policy: China, where sales grew 32-fold over the
last decade to eclipse Japan as the biggest robot market in
2013, aims to make one-third of its own robots by 2015.
ID:nL3N0RB2WX .
South Korea has a five-year plan to spend $500 million a
year on its robotics industry, while the European Union has
earmarked 100 million euros ($125 million) a year to its Horizon
2020 programme that aims to pull in a further 2 billion euros
annually in private funding.
Japan is trying to keep up: ministries have requested 16
billion yen ($138 million) for direct investment in robotics in
the next fiscal year.
But success will depend largely on reforming a fragmented
regulatory process that can set insurmountable hurdles by
mandating absolute safety, said Atsuo Takanishi, a professor at
Waseda University specialising in robotics.
The trade ministry has convinced health ministry officials
to relax certification procedures for medical devices and
introduce affordable robots to nursing homes on a trial basis.
It also pushed for an international safety standard for care
robots that Panasonic Corp 6753.T cleared in February with a
robotic nursing bed that folds up into a wheelchair, eliminating
the need for care-givers to lift their patients.
With the freeing of regulations, Kiyoshi Sawaki, who
recently replaced Sudo as head of the trade ministry's
industrial machinery division, is confident that the government
has created sufficient opportunities to succeed in robotics.
"The approval process is being simplified," he said. "So
companies can't use the same excuses that they did before."
(1 US dollar = 115.9500 Japanese yen)
(1 US dollar = 0.7985 euro)
(Additional reporting by Teppei Kasai; Editing by Edmund
Klamann and Alex Richardson)
((edmund.klamann@thomsonreuters.com; +813 6441 1841; Reuters
Messaging: Reuters Messaging:
edmund.klamann.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
Keywords: JAPAN ROBOTS/