A wearable "third arm" for construction workers is among the latest innovations under development in Panasonic Corp.'s burgeoning collaboration with academia to make robots an increasing part of people's lives in aging Japan.
Panasonic already has expertise in using robots in manufacturing but has reached out to academia for robots that can safely assist with everyday human tasks, given the wide range of technologies involved, such as image analysis, voice recognition and artificial intelligence.
"Robots previously had the purpose of facilitating automation in the manufacturing sector but are now expected to expand their role to enlarging human capabilities ... amid the rapid aging of society and the labor shortage," Panasonic executive Tatsuo Ogawa said at the opening of the Robotics Hub, a new site in Tokyo for the company's collaboration with academia.