Japan’s Robot Renaissance (Fukushima’s Silver Lining)

by John Payne

15 March 2013

share this:

This piece is not a memorial, but hopefully a brief insight into how a terrible natural disaster has invigorated Japan’s robotics industry and brought to light a problem affecting all industrialized societies.

John Payne‘s insight:

Another way in which Japanese robotics is benefitting from the aftermath of the disaster is that some of the land in the radioactive exclusion zone has been made available for the development of agricultural robots.

See on en.akihabaranews.com

John Payne

AUAI is supported by:

Robot Talk Episode 163 – Robots helping people, with Aaron Edsinger

Robot Talk 25 Sep 2026

In the first episode of Robot Talk season 7, Claire chatted to Aaron Edsinger from Hello Robot about their Stretch robots that can help people with mobility issues live more independently.

An open source approach to physical AI from Intrinsic

Lucy Smith 25 Sep 2026

Find out more about the capabilities of Intrinsic Core.

What’s coming up at #IROS2026?

Lucy Smith 24 Sep 2026

Find out what the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems has in store.

Robotics roadmaps from around the world spotlight of the month: China

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) 23 Sep 2026

China is targeting the next industrial revolution by doubling down on embodied AI and humanoid robotics, building directly on its vast manufacturing infrastructure.