October 13, 2022 Announcement of the Winner of the MIC Minister’s Award in the 10th Robot Awards

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) organizes the Robot Awards program to recognize outstanding robots that have contributed to the development of robot technology and robot use. The winners of the 10th Robot Awards were recently selected. The winner of the MIC Minister’s Award was the Sea-Air Integrated Drone produced by KDDI Research, Inc., KDDI SmartDrone Inc., and Prodrone Co., Ltd.

1. Overview

The Robot Awards program is organized by MIC, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The program commends particularly outstanding robots that are capable of promoting the development of robot technology and expanding the use of robots. Held for the first time in FY2006, the Robot Awards have taken place once every two years since FY2008, making 2022 the 10th time of the program.

2. Result of examination

A public appeal was made for the 10th Robot Awards from Monday, April 11 to Friday, June 3, 2022. A total of 112 applications were submitted in response and were screened by the 10th Robot Awards Examination and Steering Committee (Chair: Dr. ASAMA Hajime, Professor, University of Tokyo) and the Special Examintaion Committee (Chair: Dr. KAWAMURA Sadao, Specially Invited Research Professor and Director of Ritsumeikan-Global Innovation Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University), which then chose the award-winning entries.

3. Award-winning robot

Winner of the MIC Minister’s Award in the 10th Robot Awards

Name: Sea-Air Integrated Drone
Award winners: KDDI Research, Inc., KDDI SmartDrone Inc., and Prodrone Co., Ltd.

Appendix: The award-winning robots for the Tenth Robot Awards program (in Japanese) PDF