Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Eight Japanese firms came together in mid-February to declare that 2022 is “the first year of robot delivery” as their industry is now making strides toward widespread use within society.
The eight firms used the occasion to establish the Robot Delivery Association. The founding members are Honda Motor, Japan Post Holdings, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Panasonic Corporation, Rakuten Group, TIS, Tier IV, and ZMP.
Each of the firms demonstrated their own model delivery robots, some of which are already in practical use.
The robots are expected to roll in to help solve manpower shortage issues in Japan both within indoor use cases and outdoors.
In regard to the latter, one of the first tasks of the Robot Delivery Association will be to establish voluntary safety standards and to create a certification system in the industry for robots utilizing public roads. The government is also moving to set new rules for low-speed, small-sized automated delivery robots.
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