Blending IT and Robotics at Tokyo University

In summer of 2006, 7 major Japanese companies announced that they will be funding the Center of IRT (CIRT) at the University of Tokyo. IRT stands for the integration of Information Technology and Robot Technology. The goal of CIRT is for academia and industry to get together to come up with innovative technical solutions to support the aging Japanese society by blending IT and RT, which till recently were considered very different disciplines in Japan. IT was the place for computer scientists whereas RT was led by mechanical engineers.

So what are the 7 companies up to? Some insight was provided at a recent symposium at CIRT. You can read full coverage of this symposium in this article (in Japanese) on ROBOT WATCH, but here is a brief summary.

Panasonic is working with Prof. Tomomasa Sato in developing a logistical support system for the home using an "intelligent container" and a mobile robot that hangs from the ceiling which will bring you the container with the things you need in it. Panasonic is working on the cameras and RFID tags that will be necessary for this system.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries known for the wakamaru robot is working on how to make wakamaru recognize human motion and gestures.

Toyota and Fujitsu are working with Prof. Masayuki Inaba. Prof. Inaba's team is currently developing a robot that will be able to travel autonomously from Tokyo University to Akihabara. Another project is a robot for the kitchen, specifically one that can carry and put away the dishes after a human washes them. (Dish washers are not as common in Japan as in other parts of the world.)

Toyota is also working on a robotic service dog as well as a robotic device meant for rehab that can assist walking. 

Fujitsu - which has a service robot produt called enon - is hoping to develop techniques for the robot to communicate more effectively with humans through eye contact and audio.

The giant printing company Toppan Printing is trying to figure out whether its display technology can be utilized to assist the lives of the elderly and Olympus would like to see its MEMS technology used to make sensors for all the five senses for robots.

Too bad I don't see anything about Sega (the 7th company participating in CIRT) in this article.