Every year, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) releases a hit list of the best robots the country has produced and gives their makers an award. And yesterday, the METI announced who will get the Robot Awards in 2010 [JP]. What follows is a list of all the robots that made the list.
Grand Prize
Toyota’s eco-friendly 80W industrial robot, which places spare tires in trunks
Runners-up
Pork ham deboning machine HAMDAS-R
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTZ2D7XEk8g&w=640&h=390]
Panasonic’s new range of health care robots
Power line exploration robot Expliner
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcakf1LcOe0&w=640&h=390]
Robotic arm Kibo (used in outer space)
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Best service and industrial robots
Cell cultivation robot from Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Strawberry harvesting robot
Fanuc’s 3-axis parallel link industrial robot with six joints
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9teujUVcSE&w=640&h=390]
Mitsubishi’s emergency robot FRIGO-M
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eyWBwqoMtk&w=480&h=385]
Joystick-controlled robot system for mobile vehicles
Here is our Robot Awards coverage from 2008 (there were no robot awards in 2009).
