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Giorgia Feltrin

Political Economy of Innovation in Japan

Ruhr Universität Bochum

ROBOTICS INNOVATION IN JAPAN
Introduction and Main Drivers of the Successful Field of Japanese Robotics
The field of Robotics is defined as the engineering of machines that can autonomously or semiautonomously perform physical tasks on behalf of humans, typically either highly repetitive motions
or actions performed in an environment too dangerous to afford risking human lives
...
As other innovation sectors in the Japanese market, in the Robotics branch it is possible to
recognize the following patterns:
o the institutional regime can be labelled as intrapreneurial, because of its high degree of
stability and presence of large established firms1;
o the availability of cumulative knowledge stocks, as a result of the continuous solving of tasks
with information and knowledge gained from previously solved one (allowing the building of
new knowledge upon current knowledge)
...
On the other hand, cumulative knowledge alone is not enough; much importance has to be
placed on the ability of firms to integrate across technologies and sectors, and then take advantage of
that
...

An interesting phenomenon that should be analysed, to understand the success of this sector in Japan,
is the perception of robots themselves as well as the different approach Western countries apply to
the thematic
...
Moreover, being Shintoism – Japan’s traditional religion – an animist
one, robots are believed to possess a spirit like all other living and non-living entities, and building
harmonious relationships with them is an important value for Japanese people
...

This phenomenon can partly explain Japanese people’s continuous embracing of new technologies
into their domestic life and working society, however government support and contribution played a
major role for innovation in Robotics
...
More
specifically, calling for more efforts in those identified as priority research areas, for instance nanohandling technology, Kansi interfaces2, robot vision, mobile technology, and advanced manipulation
...
, 1999; Ernst and Young,
1998)
...
& Coates, K
...
”

Giorgia Feltrin

Political Economy of Innovation in Japan

Ruhr Universität Bochum

Another reason for this intervention is related to the expected labour shortages that Japan was bound
to face, as its population has been showing for years signs of an increasingly old share of citizens and
major discrepancies with natality indexes
...
The shift
from industrial robots to service robotics began around 2005, as the aging population was already an
issue and robotic systems were thought to be nearly ready to adapt to more complex situations and
environments, where they would have been required to assist people in their specific living contexts
and arrangements
...
These changes and investments have also been highly supported by
the Japanese government because the Robotics market was expected to be worth 6
...

As seen, the triple intervention of government, academics and industries in supporting this field has
been the main driver for the industry, that – having an already well-established foundation in the
industrial robotic subsector –, allowed the sharing of knowledge to expand and invest in new products,
services, and ideas, benefiting Japanese society as a whole in the meantime
...
The additional
contribution of university-industry collaborations has also played a distinctive role in the sharing of
data and knowledge, and – in addition to the high intra-firm diffusion rate –, a high propension to
imitation, that has always been a typical characteristic of the Japanese society, is also among the
factors that made the diffusion of robots higher in Japan than in Western countries
...
A concrete example of this
is represented by the Hitachi Group, whose main firm – Hitachi Ltd
...
That was the case with Hitachi Zosen, specialized in
robot production, and Hitachi Home and Life Solutions, specialized in domestic-used products
...
According to these research data, new firms do not present a higher degree of
collaborative initiatives than established ones, nevertheless the benefit to gain higher quality patents
does not go unnoticed
...
This whole
phenomenon, as noticeable, being highly promoted and correlated to close and intense user-producer
relations
...

This field widely employed the so called NGRT – Next Generation Robot Technologies –, for a
number amounting to five, provided by other industries outside of the Robotics sector through
alternate patterns of entries
...

Of the already existing knowledge bases, fifteen of them have been actually employed, making a total
of twenty, that are contributing to the development of this sector
...

Categorization of Robotics Fields Based on their Application
As already mentioned, Japan has been leading worldwide for a long time in the manufacturing and
employing of industrial robots, before expanding its supremacy in the commercial and domestic
sphere
...

According to the main studies on robotic application, it is possible to identify four main subcategories:
Industrial Robots, Service Robots, Humanoid Robots and Rescue Robots
...
The first introduction of robots in the manufacturing
processes in Japan dates back to the 1960s, for cost reduction purposes, but an increased exploitation
occurred during the phenomenon of the bubble economy of the ‘80s, which made it necessary for
companies to employ robots in simple tasks such as arc-welding and painting lines
...
Trials conducted by
Industry 4
...

Unlike humans, robots can repeat identical motions without failing in their accuracy and the quality
of said movements does not differ from one another
...
According to the UN Economic Commission for Europe, by the end of 2004, the
total worldwide stock of industrial robots approximately amounted to 1 million, and about 356,000
were of Japanese property (figure2)
...

Service Robots are employed to perform tasks meant for humans – with the exclusion of industrial
duties –, that involve their partial or full autonomy for the accomplishment
...

In 2011, about 2
...

For previously mentioned reasons, METI has been heavily promoting the next generation of robots
belonging to this category, in order to be used in daily life as security guards, cleaners, guides,
receptionists, and childminders, among other uses
...

Undoubtedly, caretaker robots are the hugest exponent of this field’ sector, as the main driver of
innovation in this case has been Japanese rapidly aging society and the lack of personnel in the
healthcare sector, which raised both the need for actual physical care and emotional/psychological
needs of elderly people for social interactions (figure3)
...
As illustrated, service robots are
bound to interact with humans, contrary to traditional industrial robots that are employed in
substituting humans
...
The primary aim, expected by 2018, was to place them in public facilities for general
work and the Japanese government committed very soon to this sector of robotics, investing 5 billion
yen in a 5-year project – Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP)
...
This project involved the National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology, Manufacturing Science and Technology Centre, 11 university
labs and 12 companies, all of them active in a two-stage plan: develop platforms for humanoid
research and focus on their application in concrete environments
...
As
anticipated, this is an especially fast-changing sector and uneven results have been obtained,
nonetheless research and development on Humanoid Robotics are still being pursued and progressing
...
Pet Therapy, as this practice is known, has been implementing
robot pets in long-term care settings since the early 1990s
...
This improvement has
been necessary after the devastating 1995 Great Kobe Earthquake, which led to the establishment in
Kobe and Kawasaki of the International Rescue System Institute (IRSI), for the development of robots
capable of performing the necessary operations in disaster areas, adapting and changing shape
according to their surroundings
...

A feature proven to be fundamental in this field is teleoperation, the enabling of remote control, for
example, to command robots equipped with landmines radars or in the decommissioning of nuclear
plants or inspection of infrastructures; the opportunities are countless and Japanese universities and
research institutes have been the major actors engaged in the field
...
If
Medical Robots will prove successful, machines will increasingly replace mechanical activities and
manual intervention, leaving humans to focus on more creative professions
...
The major one is probably the
Autonomy-Safety-Paradox (ASP) that, contrary to other countries, in Japan did not lead to moral
issues, but to concerns related to manufacturers and their risks and responsibilities
...
The institutionalization of a reliable system for responsibility
determination, with legal norms and safety standards, could possibly help minimize the consequences
of eventual accidents
...

o Both societies present a responsibility gap problem, but in Japan said problem is overlooked
as the main driver force of the sector is the industry-government-academia conjunct efforts
and little space is given to legal actors, who – on the contrary – in Europe are directly involved
in decision-making processes regarding research activities, products and obtained results,
hence also the eventual side-effects
...

Other still-relevant problematics to address will be related to robots’ degree of autonomy, as full
autonomy of action is considered impractical and, when it comes to energetical supply, the more
power is required the less sufficiency is guaranteed
...
This will make them
not entirely dependable, as every time they must re-learn and adapt to different surroundings
...

Talking about expectations, building multi-functional robots in a highly competitive business will be
another challenge in the field of Robotics, as usually industrial robots are static and meant to carry
out a single task at a time
...
Lastly, one possible factor increasing scepticism towards the field
is that of privacy, for the storage and use of data that the robot may acquire during its “life”
...

Doing so, will also allow the solving of labour shortages related to the aging population and at the
same time the increasing of the quality of certain products and services, given the major precision of
motions and working energy supplies of robots
...
The wide range of end-

Giorgia Feltrin

Political Economy of Innovation in Japan

Ruhr Universität Bochum

products that are placed in the market, as shown by the spectrum of each category, and the broad
applicability of new technologies, are another major advantage of the sector, since one improvement
in production or quality can easily be applied to other products and sectors
...


Giorgia Feltrin

Political Economy of Innovation in Japan

Ruhr Universität Bochum

(figure:1)

source: Global trends in robotics from patent analysis (Robohub, 2014)

(figure:2)

source: Robots: Japan delivers 52 percent of global supply (International Federation of Robotics, 2017)

Giorgia Feltrin

Political Economy of Innovation in Japan

Ruhr Universität Bochum

(figure:3)

source: Over 80% of Japanese Would Welcome Robot Caregivers (Nippon
...
(2022, May 21)
...
VentureBeat
...
com/datadecisionmakers/ai-in-robotics-problems-and-solutions/
Hirukawa, H
...
2015 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits)
...
ieee
...
& Coates, K
...
“Robotics in Japan” in Innovation Nation
...
https://link
...
com/chapter/10
...
(2020, April 12)
...
Allerin
...
allerin
...
& Miyazaki, K
...
An integrated network approach to systems of innovation –
the case of robotics in Japan
...

https://www
...
com/science/article/pii/S0048733398001280?via%3Dihub
Lechevalier, S
...
& Storz, C
...
Diversity in patterns of industry evolution: How
an intrapreneurial regime contributed to the emergence of the Service Robot Industry
...
https://www
...
com/science/article/pii/S0048733314001334?via%3Dihub
Matsuzaki, H
...
(2015)
...
SpringerLink
...
springer
...
1007/s00146-015-0630-7
Šabanović, S
...
Inventing Japan’s ‘robotics culture’: The repeated assembly of science,
technology, and culture in social robotics
...

https://doi
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1177/0306312713509704
Shimon, Y
...
(1999)
...
(2nd ed
...

What is Robotics? (2022, June 22)
...

https://www
...
com/definition/32836/robotics



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