Kawasaki Heavy Industries announced the launch of “Successor”, a new robot system that reproduces the movements of expert engineers through remote collaboration. The Japanese company will first introduce the system into the robot manufacturing line limited sales is scheduled for 2018. The general sales is planed for 2019.

Successor can take movements operated by expert engineers and convert them into automated operations. Source: Kawasaki Heavy Industries

“Successor” is a system that has newly-developed remote control devices that enable remote collaboration. Remote control will make it possible to apply robots to a wide range of fields, and the system is compatible with a wide range of Kawasaki robots.

According to the company, the new system can take movements operated by expert engineers by means of remote devices and convert them into automated operations by a robot. Also, through the robot’s learning repeatedly operated moves by using AI technology, the robot will reproduce delicate movements by expert engineers that require fine adjustment. As a result, it opens the possibility of applying robots into fields, in which robotization has been difficult thus far.

Furthermore, the system can take movements that expert workers have gotten the robot to learn, and pass them on to newcomers as skills, through a feedback system that can reproduce tactile sensations, force sensations, visual sensations, auditory sensations, etc.