With the growth of the elderly population, finding a way to enhance quality of life and safety with minimum human assistance will become critical in the next few decades. Japanese robotics researchers have been focusing on research and applications in these areas in light of the aging Japanese population. U.S. robotics researchers have also been working on the same areas but from different viewpoints. Even though both Japan and the U.S. are conducting research on the same areas, there has been virtually no collaboration between U.S. and Japanese researchers in these research areas due to the lack of appropriate funding structures and mechanisms.
The goal of this workshop is to initiate and facilitate collaborations between Japanese and U.S. researchers in the areas of robotics for safety, security and society. The proposed workshop will bring 16 Japanese researchers and 16 U.S. researchers together to discuss their research, and to explore mechanisms for joint collaborations to advance research in and improve Safety, Security, and Society. As the collaborative research evolves, enhanced research results will be published as collaborative work, applications will affect society, and ideas will be generated for future collaborative structures.