Japan is the most powerful world’s industrial robot manufacturer, since the 1980s, this country confirmed its potential in 2016 when the local production capacity has reached 153,000 units. It is the highest level ever recorded on the planet.
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has released the information that Japan delivers 52 percent of the robotics global supply. In 2016, the country exported nearly 115,000 industrial robots with a value of 309 billion yen (about US$ 2.7 billion) while the export rate increased from 72 percent to 75 percent since 2011.
Last year, the main targets of the robotics export activity are North America, China, the Republic of Korea and Europe, and the home market has strongly recovered from the financial crisis in 2009 and reached 39,000 units, the highest level since 2006 (37,000 units). These figures are very encouraging for Japan, especially ahead of the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) in Tokyo, which starts on November 29.
The automotive industry is the largest destination market for industrial robots in Japan with a share of 36 percent of the total supply. Car manufacturers bought 48 percent more industrial robots than in 2015 (2016: 5,711 units). The Japanese car companies have been increasingly expanding production facilities overseas, particularly in China, as well as other Asian countries and in the United States and Mexico.
Toyota’s latest humanoid robot can balance on one leg
In November, Toyota unveiled its third-generation humanoid robot, the new T-HR3 model can balance on one leg and gives a high five, it has pretty impressive yoga and even the martial arts skills. The robot can dance and even gently pick up a balloon with two hands without popping it.
