Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry decided 15 priority fields of development of next generation robots for infrastructure. Proposals of new technologies replacing existing methods such as visual inspection and hammering tests will be invited from private sectors in March 2014, which are to be applied in the priority fields including maintenance of infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, and dams and damage investigation and its emergency recovery. The ministries will offer test fields and support the companies in development of robots.

The study group for development of next generation robot for social infrastructure, established in July by the two ministries, identified the sectors in which practical use is to be promoted, investigating seeds in technologies and needs on site. (2013/12/26)