From 'third arms' to talking walkers, Panasonic ramps up ties with Japan academia on human-help robots

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 know-how in using robots in manufacturing but has reached out to academia on 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," Executive Officer Tatsuo Ogawa said at the opening of the Robotics Hub, a new site in Tokyo for the company's collaboration with academia. "We lack a lot of knowledge when it comes to robots used in interaction with humans," said Ogawa, who leads Panasonic's manufacturing innovation division. "We want to work with academia to speed up the development of robots that humans can cohabitate with and to lower the barrier for their implementation."