Research on standardization, safety standards and competitiveness enhancement of special environment robots in Japan

Japan has the several social problems in which the robots working in the related special environment could provide some solutions, e.g., large scale disasters mitigation and aging of infrastructures maintenance. In order to accelerate the utilization of the robots, we need not only to develop technology but also to enforce comprehensive social system. According to this, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), had launched “Research Project on Standardization, Safety Standards and Consolidation of Competitiveness of Special Environment Robots(SERs) and Systems” in FY2012. The final report of the research published on March 2013, which contains the three parts as: 1) clarification of political positioning of SERs, 2) clarification of mid-long term issues that Japan should pursue, and 3) strategic planning of standardization, safety standards and the competitiveness. In this paper, a summary of the third part of the report is described, which includes 1)an analysis of the state of art and problems of standardization and safety standards of SERs and 2)strategic enhancement of standardization and safety standards of SERs and international competitiveness.