Honda Has Been Conducting Robot Research for More Than a Quarter of a Century
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Since the size of corporate activities and their impact on society is so vast, there is a growing interest on how approaches to worldwide social responsibility will be implemented in the 21st century on issues such as global warming that is representative of environmental issues, changes to the markets in the global era and rapid advances in information technology. Even before that, Honda has been pursuing initiatives in its own way to fulfill its responsibilities as a corporate citizen. The ideal of our founder Soichiro Honda of “Fulfilling social responsibilities is an obvious goal as a company. …It is my hope that Honda will continue to fulfill its social responsibilities and that all employees will also complete their own responsibilities as a member of society.” exists as the root and the pillar of all our activities. As well as introduce our contributions to society through our products and technology, we will introduce some annual milestones of our widespread activities as they represent the founder's ideals of “being a company” that works toward the sustainable development of society and provide joy for the next generation. Honda has been conducting robot research for more than a quarter of a century. This section introduces the thinking of some of our developers as well as the current state of Honda Robotics as we accelerate an effort to embrace new challenges in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. As a company that creates products to which people entrust their lives, Honda puts customer safety first. This approach reflects Honda founder Soichiro Honda's beliefs concerning safety. This section introduces the history of Honda's research into safety, which has remained true to the founder's philosophy while generating numerous proprietary Honda technologies that are the first of their kind in the world. 29 Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have jointly developed a remotely controlled survey robot that will conduct on-site surveys on the first floor of a nuclear reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TEPCO) and help discern structures in high and/or narrow areas. This newly-developed survey robot began working inside the reactor building on June 18, 2013. The survey robot was developed to support the actual needs The High-Access Survey Robot based on information provided by TEPCO concerning conditions was shipped to TEPCO's inside the reactor building. AIST developed the high-area Fukushima Revitalization accessible crawler work platform and Honda developed the Headquarters on March 25, 2013 survey-performing robot arm, which is installed on the top of the platform. In developing the survey-performing robot arm, Honda applied the following technologies which were developed originally for ASIMO, Honda's humanoid robot: Technologies that enable 3D display of structures surrounding the subject of the survey using a 3D point cloud (a group of vertices in a coordinated system) A control system that enables simultaneous control of multiple joints Control technologies which enable the robot arm to absorb the impact when it makes physical contact with surrounding structures With these technologies, the newly developed robot arm that can easily approach hard-to-see objects that are behind other objects in a structurally-complex environment in the reactor During trials in an environment building by applying simultaneous control on multiple joints. designed to simulate the nuclear When approaching the objects, the robot uses a zoom camera, plant laser range finder and dosimeter located at the tip of the arm to confirm detailed images, collect 3D data and identify the source of radiation. For the high-area accessible crawler work platform applying a structure with a low center of gravity that enhanced the stability of the robot, AIST applied its various remote control technologies and ingeniously positioned camera, lights, laser marker and other devices, enabling it to be remotely controlled via 400-meter fiber-optic wired LAN and wireless LAN. Moreover, Honda and AIST jointly developed an intuitive remote-control interface. Using this interface, the operator can control the robot from a remote location such as the Main Anti-earthquake Building and allow the robot to maneuver in dark and narrow places in the reactor building. Once the robot reaches a target spot, the mast can be extended to survey areas as high as seven meters without hitting the robot arm against surrounding structures. While making progress in the development of ASIMO, a humanoid robot that can be helpful to people while co-existing with people in their daily lives, Honda also has been studying and researching the possibility of using humanoid robots at disaster sites. Following the development of this survey- performing robot arm, Honda will accelerate the development of humanoid robots also designed for use in response to disasters, including the prevention and mitigation of damage caused by a disaster. In reaction to the Great East Japan Earthquake, AIST has been supporting recovery efforts in various forms including surveying the situation of underground seawater seepage in areas affected by the tsunami, leading the Kesennuma Kizuna Project, conducting and supporting radiation measurement and decontamination, and volume reduction of plant-basedradioactive cesium. AIST will continue utilizing mostly its robotic technologies to contribute to the efforts to decommission the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. 30 The robotics research program at Honda was launched with the basic aim of designing robots to perform useful tasks that make our lives easier. As a provider of mobility solutions, Honda is dedicated to improving our understanding of human functioning and behavior. Given that we supply machinery that people use, it is important that we have a proper understanding of how people think and operate. This is the fundamental principle that underpins the robotics development program. ASIMO was originally conceived as a communications robot that operates in conjunction with humans, and this remains our research focus in the future. The March 2011 earthquake prompted a change of direction in robotics research at Honda, by illustrating the need for working robots capable of Satoshi Shigemi performing tasks in dangerous places on behalf of people. The Robot development supervisor concept of the working robot is based on the older P1 through Fundamental Technology P3 models, predecessors to the modern-day ASIMO. We Research Center gained a great many new insights during the development of a Honda R&D Co., Ltd. working robot for use at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, particularly with respect to identifying key functional requirements and tailoring the available technology to suit those requirements. Rather than concentrating on pure robots research, we are now more committed to working towards the ultimate objective of producing robots that are genuinely useful to society, and naturally this includes the ASIMO. To this end, we have begun development of a Humanoid Disaster-relief Robot for use at nuclear power stations and industrial sites. The humanoid robot is primarily designed for initial emergency response procedures in the event of an industrial accident, but will also be capable of conducting From the left, P1, announced in general workplace safety patrols and inspections at other 1993; P2, announced in 1996; times. and P3, announced in 1997 As part of our research, we visited a number of nuclear and coal-fired power stations and industrial factories and facilities, where we found very many cramped and confined spaces such as narrow stairwells and areas crowded with pipes and conduits. Such spaces can only be traversed by a humanoid robot that walks on two legs like a human. In this way, the recent earthquake has shown us a whole new area of potential for the disaster response robot. The robot development program will now focus not only on what the robots of the future might do, but how robots can be used right now to meet the needs and expectations of wider society. Honda Robotics is committed to the development of technology and products that satisfy customer expectations. Our mission is to imagine a world in which robots work side by side with humans, while at the same time exploring potential applications of robotics technology in the present day. 31 In November 2011, Honda established a collective term, Honda Robotics, and the logo to represent Honda's robotics technologies and application products created through its research and development of humanoid robot represented by ASIMO. “If we could make a product like this, mobility would be more fun.” This is the spirit that infuses Honda's ongoing robotics research, which in addition to developing ASIMO strives to Honda Robotics logo mark propose compelling, next-generation mobility solutions like the Walking Assist Device and U3-X that excite and inspire people. Going forward, we will also work actively to accelerate the process of bringing applied products to practical use. The all-new ASIMO is now advanced from an "automatic machine" to an "autonomous machine" with the decision- making capability to determine its behavior in concert with its surroundings such as movements of people. This new functionality has driven a dramatic advance in ASIMO's capabilities as the world's first* robot capable of controlling its behavior autonomously, for example