IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2021 - 151

innovation. At the same time, the approach to these disciplines
is very different, given the cultural diversity, distant
traditions, profound difference in religious attitudes, and
the contrast in citizens' perception of technology. Robotics
is an interdisciplinary field in which we can find interesting
focal points for scientific discussion and mutual
growth in the field.
This combination of the similarity of interests and differences
in approaches has been brought to the Italy-Japan
workshops, a series of events organized by the Italian
Embassy in Tokyo with the scientific support of Scuola
Superiore Sant'Anna and Waseda University since 2001. It
also led to the creation of two joint laboratories on humanoid
and personal robotics, partially supported by the Italian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: RoboCasa, which opened
in Tokyo in 2003, and Robot-An, which opened in Pontedera
(Pisa) in 2007. The two names are connected by a
similar meaning: casa, meaning home in Italian, and
an (庵), meaning hermitage in Japanese. These two joint labs
were a key part of a larger strategic objective, namely, the
creation and strengthening of a reliable link between Japan
and Italy by connecting universities, research centers, and
small and middle-size enterprises in the two nations (and,
as a natural extension, in Europe and Asia) focused on the
fields of advanced robotics, medical and biomedical technologies,
and the related biomechatronic technologies [see
Figure 2(a)]. This approach has been pursued at three different
levels: excellence in research, joint education, and
strong industrial relationships.
Year by year, each workshop became not only an event
of considerable scientific level but also a reference point
between the Italian and Japanese robotics communities,
providing a stimulus to for generating new thinking about
robotics. Additionally, their collaboration in the field of
robotics, brought to the first Doctoral Summer School in
Robotics in 2009, included, eventually, South Korea. The
Italy-Japan workshops are excellent centers for monitoring
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600
500
400
300
200
100
the evolution of interdisciplinary research efforts related to
robotics in these two countries and beyond their borders.
This article aims to describe the development of robotics
research in Italy, Japan, and beyond over the last two
decades, mapped through the themes [see Figure 2(b) and
(c)] touched on by the workshops: 1) humanoid robotics;
2) robots for rescue and exploration and to face natural
disasters; 3) biorobotics; 4) robotics and education; 5) the
ethical, social, legal, and economic aspects of robotics; 6)
robotics for sports; and 7) robotics for the arts.
Humanoid Robotics
Humanoid robotics constituted the main focus of the first
decade of the Italy-Japan collaboration as well as the
theme of the first edition of the Italy-Japan workshops,
held at Waseda University in 2001: " Humanoids: A Techno-Ontological
Approach. "
Waseda University has been at the frontier of research on
humanoids ever since Prof. Ichiro Kato and his colleagues
began developing artificial prostheses in 1967 and then went
one step further by starting
the ambitious WAseda
roBOT (WABOT) Project
in 1970, which led to the
development of WABOT1
and WABOT-2 in 1973
and 1984, respectively [5].
The target of Kato's
efforts was indeed to de -
velop robots, based on a
20-30-year horizon. In the
1970s, it had been forecast
that robots would penetrate
society in the 21st century, not only in secondary
industries but also in the service industry, substituting for
human laborers. For that reason, it was assumed that
robots would be required to have anthropomorphic
The experience of the
workshops represents
an example of an
open-minded approach
to robotics.
65
70
60
55
50
1970 1980
1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040
Year
Italy
Japan
Germany
(a)
France
United States
United Kingdom
(b)
Figure 1. (a) The countries with the highest density of robot workers [Source: International Federation of Robotics (IFR).] and (b) the
working-age population percentage, including forecast, according to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2017.
SEPTEMBER 2021 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE *
151
Number of Industrial
Robots Per 10,000 Employees
South Korea
Singapore
Germany
Japan
Sweden
Denmark
United States
Italy
Belgium
Taiwan
Rest of the World
Total Population (%)
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2021

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