The 2005 International Robot Exhibition, one of the world's largest of its kind, opened Wednesday at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, also known as Tokyo Big Sight, for a four-day run through Saturday.
The event, held every other year since 1973, is organized by the Japan Robot Association and the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. It showcases robots made by 152 companies and 40 organizations in and outside Japan, including manufacturing robots and humanoids.
One recent trend is an increase in robots designed for purposes other than manufacturing, including those designed to perform medical, welfare, cleaning and security jobs.
A section of the exhibit features robots specializing in offering service functions. Hitachi Ltd. is showing off a robot capable of fetching objects according to instructions, which was popular during the 2005 Aichi Expo.
A robot by Toshiba Corp. that is on display in the same section can give individualized answers to people even if it is spoken to by several people at the same time.
