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Describes the robotization of the Japanese automotive industry. The automotive industry is still the major segment of the industrial robot market in Japan. At the moment, however, annual shipments of industrial robots to the industry are at only 60 per cent of the peak in 1991. This reflects the struggling Japanese economy and low capital investment in domestic car production. Robot applications in car production processes seem to have reached saturation. No new big applications can be expected. Prompt recovery is unlikely.

The purpose of this paper is to review the International Robot Exhibition (IREX) in Tokyo, Japan 2011, with emphasis on the new trend of the Japanese robot industry.

This paper is based on in‐depth interviews with exhibitors and the reporter's insight into the Japanese robot industry.

A big change is observed in the direction of the Japanese industrial robotics in an attempt to cope with the increasing demand from the emerging nations and to create new business in domestic Japan.

This is the first report describing the change in the Japanese robot industry after the great earthquake and tsunami.

The purpose of this paper is to describe new walking assist devices Honda is developing.

The exhibition, press release and interview are described. The features of the walking assist devices are presented.

The paper finds that Honda is developing walking assist devices for elderly and disabled people based on its expertise in autonomous walking obtained through the development of Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.

This paper highlights the value of the walking assist devices.

The purpose of this paper is to review new robots and applications in the food‐related industry through the exhibits at the Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition, Japan.

The paper is based on interviews, exhibitions and press releases.

The paper finds new commercial applications of robotics are emerging, notably in handling viscoelastic materials and the fast pick‐and‐place handling through parallel‐link robots.

This paper provides an overview of the latest robotic applications in the Japanese food industry.

Outlines the main highlights of the JARA (Japan Robotic Industry Association) report A Survey of Technological Strategy for Creating Robotic Society for the 21st Century. This survey was sponsored by the Japanese government's METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This bulky report (298 pages) may constitute a national guideline of Japanese research and development for the future in light of the future “Robotic Society”.

Aims to describe the new tendency of Japanese robotic industry observed at the International Robot Exhibition 2005 in Tokyo.

Reports new robots, robotic systems and research.

Finds that Japanese robotics is trying to support the future direction of the nation.

Introduces an approach to study what is going on in the Japanese robotic community based on the social needs of the country.

Aims to describe how Japan sees robotics for the future based on the author's observation of robots displayed at the World Expo 2005.

Visits with the Expo and the relevant symposium.

Japan is convinced of the immense potential of the new robotic market.

Gives the Japanese view on robotics for the future to observers outside Japan.

The paper aims to report on Toyota's violin‐playing robot and Toyota's strategy for its “partner robot” business for the future.

The work is based on an interview with the R&D team of Toyota.

The paper finds that, in view of Toyota's robot business as a core business for the future, the company is devoting huge resources in the development of fundamental technologies that should support service robotics. The violin robot is not the goal of Toyota, but only a demonstration of Toyota's ongoing research and development on dexterity.

The paper elaborates how the violin‐playing robot plays a violin.

This paper aims to describe the fundamental concept of Fanuc's 720 h unattended continuous manufacturing system. It pays special attention to the material‐handling system, direct input‐output system (DIO system) created by Tetsuro Mori, Seibu Electric, Japan, that is the integral part of the unmanned factory besides intelligent robots. Also it refers to the origin of the term “mechatronics” – how Tetsuro Mori coined it.

Based on an interview with Tetsuro Mori, the report describes how he conceived the system and how Fanuc employed the concept throughout its production facilities.

The DIO strategy not only will be beneficial for the big corporations like Fanuc, but also it will be useful for smaller enterprises.

Although many reports were published on Fanuc's unattended manufacturing system they only talk about the intelligent robots and apparently forget to mention the role of the unique concept of the material‐handling system that made the unmanned operation possible. The report elaborates the secret of the system. Also, probably, the report is the first one outside Japan that discloses how the term “mechatronics” was born.

The purpose of this paper is to review the use of robots in the Japanese food industry, today and tomorrow.

This paper is based on research papers, exhibitions, press releases and interviews.

The paper finds that food palletizing and packaging are the popular applications at present. Food processing and handling are emerging. Agricultural and farming applications are yet to come in spite of intensive on‐going R&D efforts.

This paper presents issues to overcome for the robotization of the industry in the future.