Climbing robots attract attention by scaling the Japan Industry Pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO

When the Shanghai EXPO opened on May 1, a trio of innovative robots at the Japan Industry Pavilion captured the attention and imagination of visitors by climbing up and down a lattice of pipes covering the outside of the structure as they held on with their virtual hands and feet. Intelligent motors—two each for the hands and feet and one each for the hips and neck—exchanged information so that the robots could maintain a secure grip as they verified the position of the pipe and moved their left and right hands, followed by their left and right feet. The robots were developed by Muscle Corporation, an Osaka-based motor manufacturer.

The project originated when Toshiyuki Kita, the pavilion's design producer, asked Muscle to create a robot symbolizing Japan's advanced technologies, and the robots' manufacture was green-lighted at the end of last year. Responding to a call from President Hirofumi Tamai inviting them to participate in the spirit of in an international event, 14 companies from Osaka Prefecture came together in a crash project and worked without concern for profitability to supply the robots on schedule in just three months. In the end, the sight of robots climbing up and down the 15-meter lattice of pipes in about 20 minutes per round trip proved to resonate with visitors even more than expected, providing an unequalled opportunity to promote Osaka's robot technology to a global audience.

Original drawings by Toshiyuki Kita

Muscle Corporation was founded about 20 years ago by President Hirofumi Tamai, who dedicated himself to developing servomotors and named the company based on his desire to create an actuator that could reproduce the supple movements of the muscles of the human arm. In 1999, the company successfully developed Cool Muscle, the world's smallest integrated AC servo system. The product featured the ability to programmatically orchestrate complex movements using compact core components such as motors, encoders, drivers, and power supplies. After seizing the robotics industry's attention at an exhibition in Chicago, Muscle began to generate an even higher level of interest overseas than in Japan. Currently, the company has established development and sales facilities in Canada, and its sales network is expanding to locations such as South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. “There were language-related challenges and other concerns, but once you get to know them, you realize that foreigners are just like Japanese: we're all people," recalls President Tamai, intent on issuing an appeal based on his own experience. “There's no need to be defensive. Japan's robot companies should take their products to the world."

Today, the company counts an increasing number of major Japanese industrial robot manufacturers as customers, but it found itself dealing with a sharp drop in sales the year before last due to the economic downturn. As Muscle cast about for a future direction, President Tamai had the idea of developing a service robot that would play a useful role. It was at that time that he found out about the Shanghai EXPO project, marking the beginning of a process through which the company has since repositioned its development program to take advantage of its motor technologies by developing service robots. Engineers have already identified specific development themes, including rescue robots and nursing care assistance robots. According to President Tamai, “The key to achieving widespread use of service robots that take the place of human workers is lowering development and sales costs until they are less than the labor costs of the people involved in that work." In the quest to overcome that challenge, he said, “We have a major advantage in the fact that we have dramatically lowered costs and accelerated delivery timeframes in the course of selling our products to Japan's major industrial robot manufacturers."

For more information please contact:
Muscle Corporation
Website: http://www.musclecorp.com/