【News】METI establishes the JIS standard for personal care robots　〜 CYBERDYNE is leading the formulation of the safety standard for the industry 〜

Continuing from the formulation of the international safety standards for personal care robot, ISO 13482:2014*1, CYBERDYNE, INC. (“the Company”) has been leading the formulation of more detailed, practical equivalents in Japan. As a result, relevant Japanese Industrial Standards (“JIS”)*2, namely, “JIS B 8446” series were approved by the Technical Committee on Industrial Machinery of JIS Committee’s First Subcommittee on December 10th, 2015 and they were formally established by the Economy, Trade and Industry Minister on April 20th, 2016 *3. “JIS B 8446” series were proposed to ISO for a possible adoption as international safety standards.

The Company has led the preparation of the original draft of the standards which resulted in the establishment of “JIS B 8446-2: Safety requirements for personal care robots – Part 2: Low power restraint-type physical assistant　 robot” by the Economy, Trade and Industry Minister on this occasion. The Company who was the first of the kind to lead the formulation of the global safety standard for wearable-type physical assistance robot, will continue to work to resolve social issues within society with aging population and declining birthrate, promoting and accelerating the use of safe and reliable personal care robots within Japan and around the globe.

*1 ISO 13482:2014, “Robots and robotic devices- Safety requirements for personal care robots” is the only officially issued international standard related to safety for personal care robots by the ISO. The Company has been participating in the standardization proposal activities of ISO 13482.

*2 JIS are Japanese standards based on the country’s Industrial Standardization Law, aiming to improve the quality of mineral or industrial products, elevating their performance and safety and increasing their productivity. JIS set rules of product types, measurements, quality, performance, safety, testing method for each of the aforementioned and their required specified values, allowing producers, users and consumers to safely acquire products with high quality.

*3 For further information regarding establishment of JIS, please refer to the Ministry’s link below.
http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2016/04/20160420002/20160420002.html　(in Japanese only)