The Intelligent Systems Research Institute (IST) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has set up a joint research laboratory, named ISI/AIST- DSTIC/CNRS Joint Robotics Laboratory (JRL) in collaboration with le Département des Sciences et Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (DSTIC) of le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

The AIST and the CNRS have already concluded a comprehensive research collaboration agreement on November 22, 2001. The foundation of the JRL is a part of research efforts in specific areas under this agreement.

The JRL will be operated in all aspects on the basis of bipolar management. The research base in Japan (Tsukuba Laboratory) is located in the ISI, Open Space Laboratory (OSL) within AIST Tsukuba Research Center, and the France side (Paris Laboratory) is located in the Laboratoire de Robotique de Versailles (LRV), Université de Versailles Saint Quentin, CNRS.

Both research bases are operated by joint funding from the ISI/AIST and the CNRS, and mixed Japanese-French teams work in cooperation at both bases. For evaluating the operation and activities of the JRL, a steering committee is set up, consisting of researchers from the CNRS, l’Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) and the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III, on the French side, and those from the AIST and the University of Tokyo, on the Japanese side.

In order to effectively integrate individual research efforts of Japanese and French scientists, a humanoid robot HRP-2 “Promet”, developed by the AIST in collaboration with Kawada Industry, Inc. under the METI-NEDO* “Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP) (1998-2002)” will be used in both bases as a common experimental platform. Both parties will be obliged to carry out a demonstration experiment with all research results installed in the HRP-2.

* METI = Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

NEDO = New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

For upgrading the intelligence and autonomy of robots, it is of crucial importance to integrate research accomplishments created by individual researchers into a single system and to utilize it jointly. The use of a common experimental platform for installing various concepts for demonstration on shared basis will make it possible to effectively combine various achievements performed by Japanese and French scientists. In this way, technologies for building robot systems of advanced intelligence and higher degree of autonomy will be established.

In the future, it is expected that human resources will be augmented both in ISI-AIST and in DSTIC-CNRS, and the number of research bases in Japan and France will be increased. Scientists will also be invited from other countries to consolidate the organization as a full-scale international laboratory.