April 7, 2020 Accepting Applicants for the 9th Robot Award

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has decided to start accepting applicants for the 9th Robot Award, which will commend outstanding robots and peripheral technologies that have contributed to the development of robot technologies and robot applications.

1. Overview

The Robot Awards program aims to commend outstanding robots and promote the development of robot technologies and the expansion of robot utilization, in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The program started in fiscal 2006, and it will be the ninth occasion this year.
MIC has decided to make an appeal for opinions from today (Tuesday, April 7) through Friday, June 5, for applications for the 9th Robot Award, and will examine the proposal contents and decide and announce each prize, including the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award, for outstanding robots.

2. Appeal

The appeal for applications for the 9th Robot Award from Tuesday, April 7 through Friday, June 5, will cover the six fields in seven departments specified below.

Departments

• 1.
  Business and Social Implementation Department
  Initiatives for social implementation in business models or fields related to robots
• 2.
  Robot Applied Systems Department
  Systems or system integration making use of robot technologies in practical use
• 3.
  Robot Department
  Robots in practical use
• 4.
  Elemental Technology Department
  Robot parts, materials, and other elemental technologies
• 5.
  Advanced ICT Technology Department
  Advanced ICT basic technologies, such as information communications and information processing technologies (including IoT, AI, and 5G)
  that support robot utilization
• 6.
  Research and Development (R & D) Department
  Particularly promising R & D achievements related to robots
• 7.
  Human Resource Development Department
  Efforts or educational materials for training human resources in the robot field

Fields

• 1.
  Manufacturing field
• 2.
  Service field
• 3.
  ICT utilization field
• 4.
  Nursing, medical, and health field
• 5.
  Social infrastructure, disaster response, and fire fighting field
• 6.
  Agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and food industry field

3. Awards

The primary (document) screening of applications for robots and relevant technologies will be conducted, followed by the secondary screening (with on-site inspections and presentation screening) to decide the recipients of the following awards.

• 1.
  Minister Awards

  • Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award
  • Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award
  • Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award
  • Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Award
  • Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award
  • Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award
• 2.
  SME and Venture Company Awards

  • Director-General of Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Agency Award
• 3.
  Chairman of Japan Machinery Federation Award
• 4.
  Outstanding Performance Award
• 5.
  Judges’ Special Award

4. Secretariat

The 9th Robot Award Secretariat
Tel: 03-5644-7298
Email: info@robotaward.jp
Official website
http://www.robotaward.jp

• *
  See the official website for details on how to apply.

5. Future plans

Tuesday, April 7: Accepting applications
Friday, June 5: Deadline for applications (must arrive no later than this date)
Around autumn: Decision and announcement of the respective minister awards and other awards