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"Soft Robotics Technology and Autonomous System Deployment" was held
Digital X Medical Open Innovation
December 22, 2021
BrainEnergy welcomed Bridgestone Corporation and Nakanishi Metal Industries, Ltd. for a three-company dialogue on the co-creation of new businesses using soft robotics technology. In this dialogue, we invited people who are active in the forefront of digital, medical, healthcare, and related fields, and discussed the latest examples of initiatives in these fields.
[Background and content of the dialogue]
A lively discussion was held on the technologies and business concepts of the three companies, from the perspective of co-creation, regarding the possibilities of developing soft robotics and robot technology in the medical healthcare field.
Soft robotics are systems designed using materials with mechanical properties similar to biological tissue, with the goal of achieving more intuitive and delicate robot operation. The market is expected to be worth US$3.4 billion by 2027, with applications ranging from robots for construction sites, service robots in the medical care sector, assistant robots for industrial product manufacturers, retail, food and beverage, and logistics.
Bridgestone Corporation gave a presentation on their soft robotics technology, "Rubber Actuator" including the features of the technology and their future business plans.
Nakanishi Metal Industries, Inc. talked about their new business, a sterilization robot, and their advanced efforts using the company's robot technology. The sterilization robot has an autonomous driving function using LiDAR and SLAM technologies, and its use is accelerating due to the Corona Vortex.
BrainEnergy has a proven track record of analyzing vast amounts of central nervous system data with medical institutions, and we had a lively discussion about the direction of soft robotics and autonomous system concepts in the development of technology to support brain activity and body function.
[Summary of the Online Dialogue]
▪Participants： Bridgestone Corporation
Nakanishi Metal Industry Co.
BrainEnergy Corporation
▪Topics：Soft Robotics Technology and Autonomous System Deployment
[Summary of Participants]
▪Bridgestone Corporation
Founded in 1931, we are a tire manufacturer and rubber processor. Under the slogan of "contributing to society with the highest quality" the company boasts world-class sales as a tire manufacturer (sales of 2,994.5 billion yen in FY2020). The company is developing the tire business as its core business and promoting the solutions business, which provides high added value by utilizing tire data and mobility data, as a growth business. The company is also diversifying its business to include electronic precision components, construction materials, sporting goods, and bicycle-related products. The company is also active in technological innovation, promoting innovation not only in soft robotics technology, but also in a wide range of areas centered on tires, including tires for lunar exploration companies, hybrid rubber/resin materials, next-generation drainage systems, transportation business solutions, and natural rubber resource development initiatives.
▪Nakanishi Metal Industry Co.
The company was founded in 1924 as a specialized manufacturer of bearing retainers, a core component of bearings. Today, our core business is the manufacture and sale of bearing retainers for automobiles, industrial machinery, and electrical products, conveyor systems for various automobile lines, and sash products for comfortable living environments. As a new business, we are developing business in the field of robotics, and are expanding our efforts to include agricultural robots, unmanned transport robots, automatic debanning robots, sterilization robots for facilities, and warehouse automation.
▪BrainEnergy Corporation
BrainEnergy has a proven track record of analyzing vast amounts of central nervous system data with medical institutions and research facilities in Japan and overseas, and is working to develop technologies to support brain activity and body function, and to construct spaces using biophilic design and digital medical technology.