New Robot Suit to Assist Japanese Farmers
The 'catch phrase' for Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is "MORE SENSE" which is derived from "Mission Oriented Research and Education giving Synergy in Endeavors toward a Sustainable Earth." The university traces its own roots back to 1874 and Japan's Meiji Restoration period, and has been chartered as a full fledged university since 1949.
Capturing the spirit of that inspirational catch phrase, a university team lead by Professor Shigeki Toyama formally announced the development of a robot suit they hope will dramatically ease the burden on agricultural field workers as well as other manual labor intensive jobs.
Developed at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology graduate school, with support from the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the new robot suit attempts to address the challenges faced by Japan's aging, and difficult to replace, rural farm population.
Unlike larger countries like the US, Canada, Russia, and China, Japan has almost no flat easy to mechanize farm land. The vast majority of Japanese agriculture takes place on small, irregularly sized plots tucked into rough volcanic terrain. This makes it almost impossible to introduce large scale corporate farming techniques.
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