Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (South Korea). Source: Minseong Kim via Wikimedia Commons

The South Korean government funded Samsung $14.8M to develop and manufacture industrial robots; the US FDA just gave approval to Corindus Vascular Robotics for a new medical device; and the US FAA set up a task force and put them on a tight deadline to figure out how to register drone owners.

SAMSUNG

The South Korean government’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said they would invest $14.8 million for Samsung to develop product specs for factory robots that can carry out complex tasks normally reserved for “nimble human fingers.” The government wants Samsung to help develop an in-country high-precision robot industry instead of the current situation of importing them from Japan and Europe and farming out manufacturing to off-shore cheap labor countries. Additionally the government wants Samsung to build precision components: speed reducers, servos, controllers and sensor encoders. The new robots will be put to work making consumer electronics products, and the components (in addition to being incorporated into the robots) will be available for sale to other South Korean robot manufacturers to help minimize the importation of foreign-made robots.

“Once affordable robots reach the market and are more widely used, it can lead to the creation of ‘smart factories’ and bring about far-reaching innovations to the manufacturing sector,” the ministry said in a statement.

 

CORINDUS VASCULAR ROBOTICS

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Corindus Vascular Robotics clearance for their robotic-assisted CorPath angioplasty system. The CorPath device and system has a control console from which the cardiologist controls the movements of guidewires, stent catheters and balloons used in the procedure — a procedure (PCI) that begins in an artery in the wrist but has been guided by a doctor heavily clad in radiation protection gear as he or she guides a catheter into the patient’s heart using a fluoroscopy device that gives off radiographic exposure. The new FDA-approved CorPath method enables the cardiologist, sitting at a console removed from the radiation, to drive the catheter to the correct location using joysticks and touchscreen controls.

“The CorPath System’s ability to protect cath lab personnel during these cases is more important than ever with the increasing prevalence of radial and complex PCI in today’s cath lab,” said David Handler, President and CEO, Corindus.

 

FAA TASK FORCE TO DEVELOP REGISTRATION RECOMMENDATIONS BY NOVEMBER 20

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set up a task force to develop recommendations for a registration process for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) of all types. The task force must deliver their recommendations by November 20, 2015.

“Registering unmanned aircraft will help build a culture of accountability and responsibility, especially with new users who have no experience operating in the U.S. aviation system,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.  “It will help protect public safety in the air and on the ground.”

“Because safe operations are essential for all users of the national airspace, AUVSI is also looking forward to continuing its work with the FAA and other supporters of the ‘Know Before You Fly’ campaign to educate newcomers to UAS technology about where they should and shouldn’t fly.”

See also: What we know about the FAA’s new drone registration requirement, and what we don’t

According to the government’s budget for next year, passed Tuesday by the National Assembly, the Robot Division’s budget has been set at $145.8 million (US), an increase of about $11.5 million from last year’s $134.3 million. This figure is also an increase of $4.3 million from the initial government budget plan presented during parliamentary budget deliberations.

The 2015 Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy’s mechanical robots and robotic sector budget (Unit: $US)

The budget items are: robot industry fusion core technology R&D, $65 million; RobotLand construction $24 million; Robot industry cluster construction, $21.3 million; intelligent robot development and distribution, $15.1 million, developing a global R&D center and commercialization mecca of medical microrobot center, $5.5 million, robot business belt construction, $4.5 million, Korea Robot Industry Promotion Institute, $3.9 million; marine robot research base center, $2.7 million; robot fusion component advancement, $1.4 million; robot creation manpower support, $1.2 million; and healthcare robot testbed construction, $0.9 million.

Other than the Korea Robot Industry Promotion Institute, which has a $5.7 million impairment expense, and robot creation manpower support, where the budget decreased by $0.1 million, the items all have increased budgets compared to the previous year. The budget for the Korea Robot Industry Promotion Institute is reduced because there is no anticipated additional burden of construction costs, according to the building completion, and the budget for robot creation manpower support is reduced because the budget for the global robot camp related to Asian games is reduced.

Although the budget increased $11.5 million from the previous year, the newly organized specific regional project budgets increased $14.1 million, including increases to robot business belt construction, $4.5 million; healthcare robot testbed construction, $0.9 million; developing a global R&D center and commercialization mecca of medical microrobot center, $3.7 million; RobotLand construction, $2 million; marine robot research base center, $1.1 million, and robot industry cluster construction $1.6 million.
However, the budgets for projects that companies are actually interested in and need to support have only increased $3.3 million, including increases to robot industry fusion core technology R&D, $2.1 million; intelligent robot development and distribution, $0.7 million; and robot fusion component advancement, $0.5 million.

During budget deliberations, amounts for the following items were increased from the original government bill: robot industry cluster construction and developing a global R&D center and commercialization mecca of medical microrobot center, each $1.8 million; Korea Robot Industry Promotion Institute, $0.5 million; and intelligent robot development and distribution, $0.2 million, for a total increase of $4.3 million.

Meanwhile, the 2015 Korean government budget is $341,272 million, the budget for the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy is $8,308 million, and the budget for the robot sector represents 1.76% of the total budget of the Ministry of Industry.

On July 25, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy held the robot industry policy meeting at the Korea Technology Center in Seoul and announced the 2nd five-year plan to develop intelligent robots terminating in 2018.

The current five-year intelligent robots master plan, based on the ‘Intelligent Robot Development and Dissemination Promotion Law,’ was established in April 2009.

Unlike the 2009 plan, which focused largely on creating the industry infrastructure for fostering product development and dissemination, the second five-year plan focuses on expansion through the pursuit of technological fusion with other industrial sectors, such as manufacturing and services.

The government will promote the robot industry as a strategic industrial sector through four strategies: conducting robot research and development (R&D) and building comprehensive capabilities; expanding robot demand across all industries; constructing an open robot industry ecosystem; and pursuing robot fusion networking through a private–public investment of $2.6B US over the next five years.

The goal is to grow the robot market into a $7B industry (up from its current $2.2 B), achieve $2.5 B in exports, increase the number of robot companies from 402 to 600, and increase average robot company sales from $6M to $11.7 M, all by 2018.

The first project will be to attain global leadership in large R&D projects by developing service-providing robots, such as disaster-response and healthcare robots, which have potential for future growth.

The Korean government will enhance global cooperation through its Seven Robot Fusion Business Strategies roadmap, initially involving the manufacturing, automotive, medical, rehabilitation, culture, defense, education, and marine sectors and then expanding to other manufacturing and service sectors.

The plan will also encourage companies in various industries, such as major domestic portals and logistics companies, to pursue strategic participation in the robot industry, as does Softbank Japan Inc. The plan also includes the strategy for strengthening robot industry collaboration by improving the Robot Industry Policy Council, such as by expanding cooperation with telecommunication.

The 1st Vice-minister Kim Jae-hong, Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, said, “In order to take a leap forward in making our domestic robot industry a major industry, it’s essential to expand robot demand based on the business service models of other industries with a secure core technology. The government plans to support this process intensively.”

(photo: Hyundai Heavy Industries)

Many governments have determined that robotics will play a significant role in contributing to their economy and have set up projects to fund bottlenecks to speed up the process.

Japan, the EU, France, the UK, and to a lesser extent, the US are all doing this.

Sebastian Cagnon, a French behavior architect at Aldebaran Robotics who blogs at About Robots, recapped the following governmental programs. I am excerpting and editing with his permission.

These last few months have seen so many announcements from countries investing in robotics with head spinning numbers, it gave me the idea to sum it all up in this post.

The wave started with the EU announcing a huge €2.8 billion investment program for the next 7 years. The EU Commission itself is investing €700M, and the rest is coming from the industry. The goal is to invest in every robotics sector, from industrial robots to domestic, from the fields to space, etc…

Another two announcements came from Japan: the announcement of Pepper by Softbank and Aldebaran (although not really a governmental funding project), and the Japanese government’s announcement that the future of Japan would depend on robots.

Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, announced on June 19th funding to make a “robot revolution.”  [You can see Sebastian at work with Pepper in the article’s news photo.] The funding sets up a task force to further develop Japan’s robot manufacturers and help them increase their revenues to $24 billion by 2020. In addition, Abe calls for a Robotics Olympics to be held at the same time as the 2020 Olympics being held in Japan.

Then came the British government on July 1st announcing RAS 2020. You can see here that they went big with the numbers, with $257M of investment planned for robotics! Their program’s focus is to create the conditions for a thriving robotics industry through a series of stimulating and support initiatives.

Next in line are the French. When we are not in strike, we make robots too! Our French Minister Arnaud Montebourg announced the creation of a private fund with €80M (~$108M) to invest in companies. The business minded robolutioner Bruno Bonnell is piloting the project. Robolution Capital plans to invest in companies and start-ups – even to front the early stages of development.

Before this rush of announcements, the US had announced in 2011 $500M invested in automation robots as part of a $2.2 billion Advanced Manufacturing Initiative, and Korea went for $316M in 2012!

But Korea just announced a new $2.7 billion plan in response to the American, Japanese and EU plans. Their new plan is to help existing robotics businesses increase their sales as well as investing in disaster recover and search and rescue robots and eldercare robots.

We are way past the MULTI-BILLION dollars in investments by now.

Thanks Sebastian.

This is a national project that will include private and public joint development. A total of 700 billion won (~666 million USD) including 56 billion (~53 million USD) won from the government, 100 billion won (~95 million USD) from the province, 110 billion won (~105 million USD) from the city and 434 billion won (~413 million USD) of private funds will be invested. The project will occupy an area of 1,259,890㎡ (over 300 acres), and the land purchase is about 89% complete.

It is expected that Phase One of the construction, which will include development of public facilities such as robot research development center, convention center, robot exhibition hall, and private facilities such as themed parks and youth hostels, will be completed in September, 2016. Phase Two, which includes development of hotels and condominiums, is expected to be complete by the end of 2018. The Masan park was originally scheduled to open in January of 2014.

Korea’s robot industry is showing rapid expansion with a 35% annual growth rate, and its global market size is expected to reach 500 billion US dollars by 2020 – the year by which the Korean government had set out to have a robot in every household. The Masan Robot Land Project is expected to create construction job opportunities while it is being built, but more importantly, it is hoped that it will create a large-scale consumer demand for intelligent robotics when it opens.

In addition to the 700 billion won investment for Robot Land, there will be a record-setting 3 trillion won invested into the whole Masan region in effort to revive the local economy. The Masan Robot Land is linked to the Gusan Marine Tourism Complex, a 900 billion won project; 1.3 trillion won will also be invested in the expansion National Route No. 5, the highway that will connect Robot Land to the tourism complex, as well as a new road between Geoje and Masan. 400 billion won is already secured for the National Route No. 5 project next year.

The developers of Robot Land hope it will have a positive influence on the Robot Business Belt Project, a 420 billion won project that is currently being studied for feasibility by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. It is also hoped that the Masan project will accelerate the construction project of National Route No. 5 and bring large-scale investments for Gusan Marine Tourism Complex, ultimately boosting the economy of Changwon region as a whole.

Mr. Shin Jong-woo, the director of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Bureau of Changwon City said, “With the successful commencement of Robot Land Project, the theme park is confirmed for next January and the actual construction will finally begin in September. We expect [a] significant economic boost and increase in job opportunities with this Masan Robot Land Project and are looking forward to seeing a joint development of robotics industry and tourism.”

With contributions from Nahyeon Yoon. Edited by Hallie Siegel. If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• China takes long view in funding robotics, innovation
• Swiss to invest almost CHF30 million in digital fabrication research over next 4 years
• Micro-robotics and medicine: Interview with Toshio Fukuda
• Russia looks inward and outward at Moscow’s 2013 Open Innovations Forum

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Credit: DTI, eating robots

Credit: Neater

Credit: Intech, Won-Kyung Song, Jongbae Kim

From January 2011 to May 2012, the Danish National Board of Social Services, the Danish Center for Assistive Technology and supplier Jadea conducted a DKR 4 million project, evaluated by DTI Robot Technology, where two different self-feeding machines, Neater Eater Manuel (NEM) and Neater Eater Electric (NEE), were tested for 36 citizens with physical disabilities. The aim of the project has been to make individuals with arm and leg disabilities, who have been fed during meals, completely or partially independent by use of the self-feeding machines. With this project, the machines have not only reduced the need for personal assistance and support when feeding, but the citizens have also gained in life quality, independence, and freedom.

Saves man-years
DTI estimates that 16 minutes and 44 seconds of staff assistance are saved per meal, when an eating assistance machine is used. It is calculated that the payback time typically is 95 days with the NEM model and 206 days with the NEE model, and that the annual resource reduction for national implementation in the actual target group is 317 man-years. With a professional, competent visitation of the self-feeding technology, the machines can profitably be used by a wide group of people with physical disabilities, create improved life quality, independence, and freedom for the individuals besides the fact that the technology saves resources.

Based on the positive effects identified, DTI comes to the conclusion that a lot more citizens could benefit from using self-feeding machines, for instance children with disabilities in arms and hands who are ready to eat by themselves, as well as physically challenged individuals with sclerosis, muscular dystrophy etc. living at home. If the machines are not only used at the residences but also at drop-in centers and nursing homes, more resident satisfaction and saved manpower are to be found.

New Korean eating robot
A new and more advanced eating robot has been developed at the Korea National Rehabilitation Research Institute and Korea National Rehabilitation Center capable of handling Korean food, including sticky rice. Users are people with physical disabilities who have limited arm function. During the development of the robot, the researchers considered the feedback provided by several users and experts. In addition, the user candidates tested the actual self-feeding robot. It was determined that the input device has the most important role. Many users prefer a dual joystick for self-feeding. Most of the users who participated in the experiments gave positive feedback and some users were impressed that they were able to eat their desired food when they wanted to eat it. In future work, several functions will be added to the robot, including improving the reliability of basic operations and adding a safety feature.

On the way to the school there were event posters on the ground and on the street poles to make sure participants unfamiliar with the area didn’t get lost.

Students were given 2 hours before the actual competition to prepare for the matches after receiving the competition course maps.

After testing their robots, students would go back into their classrooms or work areas to modify their robots and programs.

In the exhibition hall, students presented their projects to a special panel of judges who evaluated each project. Some of the projects included an alien alert system, soldiers, a greenhouse, a car factory and a page-turning robot.

Components of KAIROBOT’s education kits were a common sight in many of the projects.

Parents were asked to wait outside during the competitions to help students concentrate.

Additional info on the event can be found here (Korean).