Dec 30 2010
World’s first testing facility for life-assisting robots has been established in the Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan.
Safety test for security guard robot in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture
The facility will improve the safety of robots that assist people in traveling, cleaning, nursing care and many other activities.
The objective of the new facility is to create an evaluation procedure for household robots’ via a number of verification tests, well before the planned launching of a product certification system for life-assisting robots during 2015.
The establishment of the facility is a part of a project by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to promote realistic applications of home-care robots. The Japan Automobile Research Institute, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology will jointly operate the facility along with NEDO.
The facility has 18 testing equipment to evaluate the abilities of robots, such as resisting intense radio waves, avoiding advancing people, and slowing down. Robots created by Panasonic and Toyota Motor are some of the robots to be tested by the facility. Officials will develop a protection database based on the results to set up quality standards.