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COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 12, 2018

What jobs will be lost to AI and robotics?

If no measures are taken, AI and robots are certain to push humankind to the rock bottom of misery.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jul 30, 2018

From robots to girl power, getting Cameroon's women into work

With a flash of green light, a robot sputters and whizzes across the room, obeying the remote control commands 15-year-old Xaviera Nguefo and her team send its way.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 4, 2018

Kangaroo-like transforming robot, created by Chiba university, keen to carry your groceries

Chiba Institute of Technology unveiled Wednesday a transformable machine that can play dual roles — as both a robot, fused with artificial intelligence technologies, and a vehicle to enhance personal mobility.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2017

Prime time in worker-scarce Japan for investing in service robots

Faced with their worst labor shortage in decades, Japanese service companies are finally turning to labor-saving technology, an investment that could lift the sector's woeful level of productivity and allow them to raise wages.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 28, 2017

Israel's Mossad sets up fund for new spy technologies, including robotics, miniaturization

Israel's Mossad intelligence agency has set up an investment fund to help development of new espionage techniques, and is offering grants of up to 2 million shekels (about $570,000) per project to bring in new ideas.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 17, 2016

Neurosurgery theater in Japan embraces cutting-edge 'smart' tech, robotics

Even in the highly technical world of brain surgery, the success of an operation still depends largely on the experience and ability of surgeons.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2016

Don't worry about a robot invasion just yet

Numerous factors argue against the doomsday specter of robots creating mass unemployment.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2016

Android version of literary giant Natsume Soseki to return to alma mater to lecture

An android version of the noted scribe is slated to visit Nishogakusha University next year and deliver lectures.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2016

Robotic-hand maker Squse said to consider IPO in Japan next year

Squse Inc., a maker of robotic hands that can handle food, plans an initial public offering in Tokyo as early as next year to fund overseas expansion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2015

Robots to help out at Mitsubishi UFJ branches

Meet the latest employee of the nation's biggest bank: a multilingual robot called NAO.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 24, 2014

Omron, Cyberdyne announce robotics tie-up

Cyberdyne Inc. and Omron Corp. said Wednesday they will join forces in making and marketing robots, combining Cyberdyne's power limb technology with Omron's expertise in sensors and automation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 1, 2014

Softbank's Pepper robot debuts as coffee machine salesman at Bic Camera

Looking sharp and professional in a black vest and bow tie, a humanoid robot showed up for its first day of work at a new job Monday selling coffee machines for food giant Nestle Japan Ltd.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 7, 2014

CEATEC kicks off with 4K TVs, wearable devices at the forefront

Japan's biggest consumer electronics and IT trade show kicked off Tuesday in Chiba Prefecture with major firms showing upcoming products and giving an insight into their current research and development. Technologies on display ranged from 4K televisions and fuel-cell and hydrogen technology to wearable...
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 10, 2014

Robot startup co-founder eyes hidden local talent

Takashi Kato, co-founder of the robot venture Schaft Inc. bought by Google Inc. in November, has opened a fund to invest in technologies from Japanese startups and universities that have been overlooked by investors.
May 30, 2018

Yamaha Motor to Open Advanced Technology Center in Yokohama

— Advanced Technology Development Hub for Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and IT Fields —
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 27, 2014

Learning to love robots

With half the decade complete, we examine an industry that has significantly changed the way we think about ourselves.
Japan Times
GLOBAL MEDIA POST / U.S. East Coast report 2022
Oct 31, 2022

The future made perfect in Pittsburgh

As far as innovation goes, Pittsburgh has many lessons to teach the world. Once the center of the American steel industry, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania has transformed its economy and emerged as a hotbed of innovation, particularly in high-value manufacturing, climate tech and technology,...
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2020

As COVID-19 persists, Japan looks to send in the robots

A new wave of service machines has emerged amid the coronavirus pandemic to help maintain safety and social distancing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 20, 2008

U.K. home-schoolers come to Tokyo for robot comp

Donning T-shirts of all colors and designs, some of the world's brightest science-minded boys and girls met in Tokyo in late April for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Open Asian Championship, an international robotics competition for children aged 9 to 15.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2007

ZMP puts on sale biped, Microsoft-programmed bot

ZMP of Japan began selling a two-legged walking robot Thursday that runs on Microsoft's new robotics software — a product the companies said will make it easier to transfer technology from one robot to another.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 22, 2016

Europe's robots may become 'electronic persons' under draft plan

Europe's growing army of robot workers could be classed as "electronic persons" and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2014

Developers urged to concoct apps to tap SoftBank robot's potential

Software engineers converge on Tokyo's Shibuya district to hear why they should develop apps for SoftBank's robot Pepper.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2008

Robots in all walks of life? Matter of time

At the Meiji University lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.
A boy pushes a biped robot developed by LimX Dynamics at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 23, 2024

China's robot makers chase Tesla to deliver humanoid workers

The Asian giant's push into the emerging industry draws from the formula behind its initial electric vehicle drive more than a decade ago.
A man stands next to a robot in use at ROLEC Gehause-Systeme in Rinteln, Germany on Oct. 6
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2023

As baby boomers retire, German businesses turn to robots

Small and medium-sized companies are turning to automation as the gradual retirement of the post-war "baby boom" generation tightens the labor squeeze.
A humanoid robot developed by Ex-Robots winks at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Aug. 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 26, 2024

China robots conference spotlights the changing face of humanoids

"The robot industry has broad prospects and huge market potential," said Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
A "biohybrid" robot hand developed by a research team from the University of Tokyo and Waseda University
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 13, 2025

Japanese research team develops world’s largest 'biohybrid' robot hand

Lack of nutrients, necrosis and muscle fiber alignment issues have limited the scale of previous "biohybrid" systems.
A humanoid robot walks as an employee conducts tests, on the production line at the AgiBot factory in Shanghai on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2025

China's AI-powered humanoid robots aim to transform manufacturing

Beijing is aiming for a new industrial revolution where many factory tasks would be performed by humanoid robots.

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