일본의 로봇 공학 혁명: 산업과 사회의 변화

### 일본의 로봇 공학 혁명: 산업의 혁신과 미래 형성
* 🤖 일본은 **세계 최고의 산업용 로봇 제조업체**로 애니메이션, 제조, 서비스업 등 다양한 분야에 걸쳐 로봇과 특별한 관계를 맺고 있습니다.
* 🏭 1960년대부터 로봇 공학에 대한 일본의 여정은 시작되었고, **1980년대에는 문화적 신념과 노동력 부족에 대한 대응**에 힘입어 **로봇 생산의 선두주자**로 자리매김했습니다.
* 👥 2040년까지 **1,100만 명 이상의 인력이 부족**할 것으로 예상되는 가운데, 기업들은 로봇을 통해 공백을 메우고 **연중무휴 24시간 운영**이 가능하며 인간은 더 의미 있는 업무에 집중할 수 있는 로봇을 점점 더 많이 활용하고 있습니다.
* 💵 주목할 만한 로봇 제조업체인 Telexistence는 최근 **1억 7천만 달러를 모금**했으며, 반복적인 작업을 자동화하는 동시에 개인이 로봇 혁신을 통해 재정적 혜택을 누릴 수 있도록 하는 것을 목표로 하고 있습니다.
* 🌾 농업 분야에서 구보타와 같은 기업들은 농업 효율성을 높이고 고령화 및 농가 수 감소로 인한 문제를 해결하기 위해 **첨단 기술**을 도입하고 있습니다.
* 🏗 코마츠는 노동력 부족을 해결하기 위해 **스마트 건설 기술**을 개발하여 작업 현장에서 기계와 인간이 원활하게 협업하는 미래를 목표로 하는 등 건설 업계도 이에 적응하고 있습니다.
* 📈 전 세계 농업용 로봇 시장은 **2021년 약 60억 달러에서 2030년까지 940억 달러로 성장**할 것으로 예상되며, 이는 산업 전반에 걸쳐 로봇공학의 막대한 경제적 잠재력을 강조합니다.
* 🌟 로봇이 일자리를 대체할 것이라는 회의론이 여전히 존재하지만, **일본의 로봇 공학 혁명**은 인간과 로봇이 공존하며 생산성과 삶의 질을 향상시키는 희망적인 미래상을 구현하고 있습니다.

일본의 독특한 로봇 공학 혁신은 노동력 부족 문제를 해결하는 동시에 산업 전반에 걸쳐 미래의 일자리를 재편하고 있습니다.

A spectacle of lights. A showcase of what humans can achieve beyond the limits of our bodies. A system that can reshape human potential. Japan’s relationship with robotics is unique. It’s the world’s number one industrial robot manufacturer. But more than that, the dream of a robotic future feels real here. Anime. Manga. Construction. Manufacturing. Hospitality. You name it. Chances are, no matter where you go in Japan, you will find a robot created by a future-minded industrialist and embraced by the public. These machines mean big business for Japan, with the country producing and designing more industrial robots than anywhere else in the world. I’m Haslinda Amin. And this is Momentum. Welcome to Henn na Hotel. Japan’s dominance in the field of robotics is no accident. The country of 123 million people began developing industrial robots in the 1960s and became a leader in robotics production in the 1980s.

Japan’s unique relationship with robotics is shaped by both culture and crisis. Its rapidly aging population, a labor crunch, strong government support in robotics production and development, and its tradition of animism - the belief that everything, animate and inanimate, embody a spirit - fanned the flames of Japan’s love affair with robots. 12% of Japan’s convenience stores don’t open 24 hours due to a labor shortage. A recent study found Japan may face a shortfall of more than 11 million workers by 2040. Companies are betting on robots to fill those roles. These robots could work 24/7, transporting all manner of goods, and gliding along their precisely calculated paths, their synchronized movements a flawless dance. Isn’t it beautiful when you witness the meeting of human ambition and mechanical might? I’m in Tokyo to meet Japanese robot manufacturer Telexistence, which just raised 170 million dollars from investors. So Jin, how do companies benefit from having your retail robot?

Especially in Japan, so people tend to think when you use the robot, maybe the companies can bring down the cost, right? But in the context of Japan, no, that’s not the way it is. Because we, as you may know, we are already facing the labor shortage issues, aging issues, right? So it’s not about the cost. It’s about how you’re going to run your business in a more sustainable way. Our robot is not replacing all the human jobs. We want to automate the repetitive job, the boring job. Jin’s ambitions extend beyond reshaping retail work. He wants the average person to benefit from his robotic inventions too. Do you think robots and humans can coexist well? Or will there be tensions? People tend to think, you know, it's a bad thing, because you know, the robot AI taking the job from them. We want to use the robot with the AI as a basic asset, meaning people own these basic assets,

and then have an income through the robot. We want to let the individuals own the robot to have a basic income for their living. Our goal is after we automate the job with a robot, we try to create a surplus for the humans. And then humans can use that surplus to spend more good time with their families or spend time on what they want to do. That's the society we want to create with robots. Telexistence is part of a wave of tech start-ups that have popped up in Japan, in part due to Japan’s history of robotic innovation, and a younger generation shying away from the idea of lifelong employment at big firms. Has it been surprising that there’s been so much innovation coming out of Japan? Are we seeing a resurgence of innovation? In this era, why there’s a chance for the Japanese startup to going out is because we don’t have to deal with the language or cultures. So for example, robotics. Let’s say our robot is

is picking and placing the rice balls in the convenience stores, right? When we bring our robot to the US, the only difference is picking a sandwich and then placing it onto that shelf. So you don’t really have to deal with the culture or language to provide our service in different countries. So that is, in that sense, we have more of a chance to do that. In 2021, Telexistence partnered with FamilyMart, a major convenience store chain here in Japan. It’s deployed 300 robots in their stores so far. Next year, they plan to deploy 3,000 across Japan. And they’re also expanding to the United States. For Telexistence, what does the US market represent? In terms of the business, of course, that’s the biggest market in the world. Make it there, make it everywhere. So we want to actually deploy the robot in the biggest market. And then, because we are doing the hardware, right. So if we can deploy the hardware in the biggest market,

meaning we can bring down our costs, too. And then we can deploy the robot to the rest of the world. To us, that has a pretty critical influence on us. Jin hopes as generative AI develops, the next generation of retail robots will be able to do even more. The current robot we deployed right now is a single-task robot, meaning the robot can only do one thing, restocking the drinks in the backyard. But if really the generative AI evolves, and when I say it evolves, I mean not only generating the text or images or videos, but if the foundation model can generate the motions, then the robot can also move from a single task to a multitasking robot because you don’t have to spend too much cost to teach and train the motions to the robot. So that’s the direction we’re looking to right now. Japanese firms have historically excelled in creating robots. Now, companies like Telexistence are taking its expertise in hardware and cementing Japan’s technological edge by developing their own software.

We built our hardware, a customized hardware. You cannot just buy the robot in the market and then apply to the convenience stores, convenience stores in Japan, because that’s not enough, we have to build a customised one, right? When we control the robot, right, we combined the AI machine learning with remote control, that’s another differentiation. My visit to Telexistence showed me that in Japan, robots are not just a solution to the socioeconomic issues the country is facing. They represent the possible future of work, in all sectors of the economy. You know, robots are not just rewriting the equation in retail. They’re also coming for agriculture. I’m in Osaka, where robots have been deployed in farming. So Jum, this is a harvester, but it is not an ordinary harvester. I want to take a look, shall we? Ok. This is a combine harvester. It’s a machine used for harvesting rice. You can check data on this monitor,

including the protein percentage, moisture level, and collection volume. You can see all that displayed here. How is that useful for farmers? This machine is equipped with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). So we combine the GNSS data with what’s shown here. And we’ll use all the gathered data to improve upon the quality of rice for next year’s harvest. We want to grow even better-tasting Japanese rice and more of it. Ken, what are the pain points you are trying to address? What challenges are there? Japan’s farmers are aging, and the number of farms continues to dwindle. On top of that, we’re seeing fewer people taking over the business. Knowing there won’t be enough workers to operate machinery, what we need to do first is advance autonomous driving. At the same time, we’re losing farmers with all this experience and knowledge. So we need to preserve their know-how by turning it into data that can be incorporated into a usable system.

So, having said that, Ken, what’s the future of farming? How will it look like? I mean, this is an industry that’s been so labor-intensive. How much will that change? In the future, farmers will be able to manage operations remotely from home. I think that way we’ll also be able to produce more and improve quality. By incorporating more data, we can better balance supply and demand. That could also help eliminate food waste. Risks like uncertain weather, yields, or crop prices are a big part of the agriculture industry. Kubota’s smart systems aim to reduce those risks. When you take a look at farming, there are different requirements. You know, farms are different sizes. They grow different crops, you know, different seasons for them. How do these machines and robots meet the various requirements? How do they adapt? There are all kinds of agriculture, like producing rice, dry-field crops, and fruits. But all of the farming data and planning can be streamlined using tech.

instead of just hiring people to operate machinery, new tech helps individuals and even mid or large-sized farms create a system that works for them. From planning to sowing seeds and harvesting, they can efficiently map out the entire process. With everything integrated into one system, it becomes possible to create a setup that’s tailored to specific needs. Because of their small size, Japanese farms need compact and precise machines. Kubota has cornered this market, and it’s pushing technology they hope will transform how these small plots are managed. We’ve been collecting data using cameras, which helps us determine the best timing for harvest. We are researching ways to get robots to do tasks usually done by experienced farmers. That is what we’re trying to make our strength. With the use of robots, crops are uniformly consistent, and food waste is reduced - all good news for a farm’s bottom line. Kubota’s research institute in Japan is building systems for autonomous driving, which they hope will be revolutionary.

Kubota’s tech allows us to move a bunch of small tractors at once. In modern-day farming, a large tractor causes all kinds of problems, like bad drainage or poor crop growth when it enters a rice field because it compacts soil. In the future, there will be many small compact trucks like ours; these tractors will be linked together and operate autonomously. With today’s technology, it’s now possible to use GPS and cameras to farm within 2-3 centimeters. This is precision farming. Beyond improving operational efficiency, these robots can also help farmers analyze and review what they do on the ground to ensure better yields and higher quality. By collecting data and utilizing current AI tools, regardless of location or climate, farmers will be able to increase quality and volume each year. By using GPS, we can pull data on crop quality and quantity in any location. By utilizing all of this, we can grow better crops. Agriculture plays a major role in producing food,

that is essential for human survival. So, the question is how to do this efficiently and turn it into a profitable business. In order to gain profit, it is necessary to lower costs and, at the same time, produce good products and sell them at a high price. If we want to go to a farm in the future, how would it look like? Maybe in the future, when you walk into a rice field, you’ll find lots of machines working on their own, and they’ll be working freely for 24 hours, 7 days a week. I wonder where the farmers will be when this happens, and they might be at home drinking coffee, or sake, or even going on a trip somewhere with his wife. In such conditions, agriculture is still possible. I think the world will become like that. With Japanese farmers rapidly aging and a nationwide labor crunch, it makes economic sense to transform the agricultural industry with robotics. The decline in the number of farmers is a scenario playing out in Japan and globally.

But, to meet the world’s needs, food production will have to increase 70 percent by 2050, compared with 2009. Enter robots. The global agriculture robots market was valued at just under $6 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit $94 billion by the end of 2030. Visiting Kubota has shown me that the agricultural industry, known to be slow to digitize, can transform itself with robots. I wonder if construction, another industry slow to adopt automation, can innovate too. I’m heading to Komatsu, which is a trailblazer in the construction industry. It is innovating; it is betting big on technology to counter Japan’s labor crisis. Chike-san, it is really exciting to see the smart construction technology that Komatsu has created. It has the potential to really transform an industry that's labor-intensive and also physically demanding for workers. First, I would like to eliminate any dangerous work on a construction site.

For example, all the physically demanding jobs will be replaced by machines. The introduction of robots and automated processes in construction means Komatsu can customize the building process for each site. In order to solve our customers’ problems, we go to their sites and understand their work and operation, so we can make a difference. Firstly, we precisely reproduce the construction site in cyberspace. This allows us to explore the space virtually. And then we optimize the construction site in the digital realm and bring it over to the real world. The number of construction workers in Japan fell to 4.8 million in 2023, from a peak of 6.9 million in 1997. With labor shortages a long-term problem, companies like Komatsu have turned to robotics to fill the gaps. For example, in the construction industry, it is said that in the next few years there will be a labor shortage of about 30% of the required labor force. We believe our technology can help solve social issues.

such as the acute labor shortage that our customers are facing. Especially in Japan, we have massive disasters like earthquakes. Labor shortage in the construction industry will greatly delay disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts. Komatsu’s vision of fully autonomous construction machines is still years away. To realize its goal of smart construction, Komatsu has formed partnerships with other technology companies, like Japanese telco NTT and SONY. So what is the vision? Do you see the construction industry in the end being, I guess, populated by machines, robots, and drones right from the start? I believe in the future, many young people will play an active role in the construction industry. For example, you can remotely operate machinery at a construction site from your home, at any time you like. For example, remotely operating machinery on construction sites. While robots and smart systems are not yet capable of working independently on construction sites, Komatsu is already deploying a hybrid method where machines and humans work side by side. If we have to go to the site, of course, we’ll go,

but soon we will be able to get these jobs done from the office. So we don’t have to go to the site at all. We can remotely operate machines, or make plans, etc. I dream of a construction site like that. Smart tools and robots are streamlining construction sites across Japan. Drones take photos of a site, and the data collected is processed by Komatsu’s app, and then analyzed by its human staff. So we are looking at our job site overseas. You see the 3D data here right? So this is taken by a drone and also processed with our Smart Construction Edge. 3D data in a matter of short time. When you talk about data, what data exactly did the drone pick up? Location information, and also the color and height. Those kinds of data are included. So based on that, if you move the picture into our Smart Construction Edge, the device, it rapidly changes the picture into 3D data,

and then onboard it to this smart construction dashboard seamlessly. So, Mr. Shike, with this kind of data, you save costs and minimize errors? But it also means that your workforce has to be skilled and talented. Is it difficult to get the kind of? Very easy. Like he said, it’s very easy. You know why? Because I’m not from, I don’t have any construction background. I studied marketing in university but, looking at the job site like a construction professional. So, I’ll say this technology is very easy for everyone. The narrative surrounding robots right now is pretty negative. It’s about how robots will take away jobs. But in the course of the conversations, you know with innovators, you get a sense that robots are there to perform the jobs that people don’t want to do. In Japan, robots offer a vision of what the future might look like. One where people’s time is freed from hard labor and menial tasks. But skepticism is justified.

We’ve been promised this before - that technology will make our lives easier - only to find out it’s not so simple. Here in Japan, those concerns are paired with hope. Technological optimism is what drives Japan’s scientists to pioneer the robotics revolution and remodel our world into one where everyone, human and robot, can live, work, and play side by side. Check out our next Momentum episode.

The Nation Where Robots and Humans Get Along | Momentum

Bloomberg Originals offers bold takes for curious minds on today’s biggest topics. Hosted by experts covering stories you haven’t seen and viewpoints you haven’t heard, you’ll discover cinematic, data-led shows that investigate the intersection of business and culture. Exploring every angle of climate change, technology, finance, sports and beyond, Bloomberg Originals is business as you’ve never seen it.


Bloomberg Originals

일본과 로봇공학의 특별한 관계

일본은 세계 최고의 산업용 로봇 제조업체로 애니메이션, 건설, 서비스업 등 다양한 분야에서 강력한 입지를 구축하고 있습니다.

로봇 공학 분야에서 일본의 우위는 급속한 인구 고령화, 노동력 부족, 정부의 지원, 정령 숭배에 대한 문화적 신념에 힘입은 바가 큽니다.

일본의 기업들은 비용 절감보다는 지속 가능한 비즈니스 모델을 목표로 로봇을 사용하여 노동력 공백을 메우고 반복적인 작업을 자동화하고 있습니다.

로봇 중심 사회를 위한 텔레시스턴스의 비전

텔레시스턴스는 로봇을 소유한 개인에게 기본 소득을 지급하여 인간이 가족과 더 많은 시간을 보낼 수 있는 잉여 시간을 창출하는 것을 목표로 합니다.

일본의 로봇 혁신 물결에서 이 회사가 성공할 수 있었던 배경에는 평생 고용에서 벗어난 젊은 세대의 변화가 있습니다.

패밀리마트 매장에 300대의 로봇을 배치하고 3,000대의 로봇을 추가로 배치할 계획인 Telexistence는 전 세계 최대 시장인 미국으로 확장하여 로봇 배치 및 비용 절감에 활용하고자 합니다.

일본의 일과 농업의 미래에서 로봇의 역할

일본 편의점에서 사용되는 로봇에는 AI 머신러닝과 원격 제어가 결합된 맞춤형 하드웨어가 필수적입니다.

농업 분야에서는 첨단 콤바인 수확기와 같은 로봇이 데이터 수집과 GNSS 통합을 통해 쌀 생산량을 향상시키는 데 활용되고 있습니다.

농업의 미래는 원격 운영 관리, 데이터 기반 의사 결정, 위험 감소와 농업 프로세스 간소화를 목표로 하는 스마트 시스템으로 변화할 것입니다.

새로운 기술은 농장에서 계획, 파종, 수확을 위한 효율적인 시스템을 구축하는 데 도움을 주고 있습니다.

구보타는 소규모 농업의 혁신을 목표로 소형 기계와 자율주행 시스템을 선도하고 있습니다.

이제 GPS와 카메라를 이용한 정밀 농업이 가능해져 작물의 품질과 수확량을 향상시킬 수 있으며, 로봇은 전통적으로 숙련된 농부들이 수행하던 작업을 대신할 것으로 기대됩니다.

로봇을 통한 농업 및 건설 분야의 혁신

2050년까지 식량 생산량이 70% 증가할 것으로 예상되는 가운데 2030년까지 940억 달러에 달할 것으로 예상되는 농업용 로봇 시장이 크게 성장할 것으로 전망됩니다.

코마츠는 로봇 공학을 활용하여 노동력 부족 문제를 해결하고 건축 공정을 맞춤화함으로써 건설 산업을 혁신하고 있습니다.

이 회사는 기계와 사람이 함께 일하는 하이브리드 방식을 통해 위험한 작업을 없애고 건설 현장을 최적화하는 것을 목표로 합니다.

건설의 미래: 스마트 도구와 로봇

기계와 스마트 공구의 원격 조작이 일본의 건설 현장을 변화시키고 있습니다.

드론은 데이터를 수집하고 이를 처리 및 분석하여 효율적인 계획을 위한 3D 모델을 생성합니다.

로봇의 사용은 고된 노동에서 사람들을 해방시킬 수 있는 방법으로 여겨지는 동시에 노동력에 미치는 영향에 대한 의문도 제기되고 있습니다.