Robots Lend a Hand in Japan
From: Robotics Trends
By: Tony McNicol

It is no wonder Japan has been called "the robot kingdom". Of the world's at
least 923,000 industrial robots, about 4 in 10 are in Japan. Now Japanese
interest is turning to so-called service robots, which could play a crucial
role in looking after the nation's aging population. 

Japan has a deep-seated infatuation with mechanical friends, whether it is
with the heroes of manga (comic books) and anime (animation), hard-working
industrial robots, or the public relations humanoids of major Japanese
corporations. Currently, all eyes are on the service-robot sector. This broad
category includes underwater, medical, cleaning, security, fishing, forestry,
caregiving, entertainment and pet robots. At present, such robots only make
up a small percent of the overall robot market, but expectations for the
sector are high. An example was the 2007 International Robot Exhibition in
Tokyo. Service robots accounted for more than a third of exhibits. Basically,
the category includes any robot for use outside the factory, but the
Paris-based International Federation of Robotics identifies two main types:
professional-use robots and private-use robots. Of the former, they estimate
that 31,600 were in operation at the end of 2005, the most numerous being
underwater robots at 18 percent, cleaning robots at 17 percent, and defense
and security robots following at 16 percent. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.roboticstrends.com/personal_robotics/article/robots_lend_a_hand_in_japan/