NEWS 2021-Ⅱ
CONTENTSTOPICS− New Products Open House Show 2021 ‒ Online− 2021 Round-Table Talk
− Four Seasons of FANUC− FANUC Factory Introduction［ Manufacturing of Roboshot base frames ］

Photo taken May 2021

New Products Open House Show 2021 ‒ Online
The New Products Open House Show was held online for 12days from June 14 (Monday) to June 25 (Friday) in 2021.
This was the �irst time that the Open House was held online.
Many customers in remote locations or overseas who had
dif�iculties in visiting “real” Open Houses were able toparticipate, resulting in a total of 9,856 visitors during theevent.
Like the usual real Open House, the highlights of the exhibits
were explained at seminars, and visitors accessed the FA,
Robot, Robomachine, IoT, Service, and ACADEMY areas tosee the contents that interested them.
Comments were received from visitors expressing appreciation of the advantages of holding the Open House online
such as, “It was hard to get near exhibits and hear explanations as there were so many people in real exhibitions, but
explanations could be heard clearly without distraction inthis virtual Open House.”

FANUC

FANUC

In the FA area, a wide range of new products and technologies wereintroduced, including improved functions related to CNCs, servos, and lasers,
use of digital technologies, and automation technologies that use robots.
Many visitors showed interest in the Digital Twin concept, FANUC 3PC, and
CNC-QSSR, among others.
FANUC

Digital Twin Concept of FANUC CNC

Significantly improve the quality of machined surfacesby optimizing the machining program

Powerfully supports machine manufacturers and machine users
in productivity improvement through integration of digital technologies and real data

In the Robot area, the functions and application examples of
the CRX as a collaborative robot that can easily be used by even
�irst-time users, and new products including a remote laser-welding robot, a SCARA robot with a payload of 20 kg, a high-speedpress robot, and a 3D vision sensor for measuring short distanceswere introduced.
The CRX drew much attention and many visitors were interested
in the arc welding package.

FANUC

FANUC

FANUC

2

FANUC NEWSIn the Robomachine area, new products weredisplayed, including the Robodrill α-D3B Plus series, theRoboshot α-S3B series, and the Robocut α-C3C series as well as
the new func�on of the Robonano called “Smart M-Form,”among others. Also, a 360° video circling a Robomachine wasshown, which could only be possible in a virtual exhibi�on.
Viewers could choose the direc�on to see the Robomachinefrom any point around the machine.

FANUC

FANUC

FANUC

In the IoT area, the latest func�onsof FIELD system, and implementa�on
examples in Japan and overseas wereon display, in addi�on to new func�onsof MT-LINK3 and proposals for using
FabriQR Contact.

In the Service area, service systems
in Japan and overseas, details of serviceac�vi�es, improvements in customers’
opera�ng rates, and FANUC’s life�me
maintenance policy were introduced.

ACADEMY Training Courses (FA)Basic service policies
・So�ware that collects equipment informa�on in the factory and easily visualizes it
・Easy connec�on with a machine tool with FANUC CNC and FANUC robot
・Runs on Windows and is easy to install

Minimizing Down Time

Global Service

What is FANUC FabriQR Contact?

In the ACADEMY area, the new
approaches to training consis�ng of live
seminars and on-demand seminars, which
are addi�ons to conven�onal ACADEMY
training courses, as well as the contents oftechnical training on FA, Robots, Robomachines and IoT were explained.

Lifetime Maintenance

Maintenance using IoT technology

Live seminar

Inquiry service using smartphones*Short-term robot operation training course

1. Application example of new and improved functions

On-demand robot seminar

Repair and redesign

Before repair

After repair32021 Round-Table Talk
Professors and researchers who provide FANUC withcon�nuous support were invited to the online New
Products Open House Show held from June 14.
A�erwards, a round-table talk was held online on
June 18.

● Attendees
General review of the New Products Open House Show ・・・・・・ P 5
Toshiro Higuchi, Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
FA
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・P 6
Keiichi Shirase, Professor, Kobe University
Hideki Aoyama, Professor, Keio University
Shigetaka Takagi, Professor, Tokyo Ins�tute of Technology
Yoichi Hori, Professor, Tokyo University of Science
Atsushi Matsubara, Professor, Kyoto University
Manabu Tanaka, Professor, Osaka University
Hiroyuki Sasahara, Professor, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Hidenori Shinno, President, Polytechnic University
ROBOTs
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・P15
Hajime Asama, Professor, The University of Tokyo
Shigeki Sugano, Professor, Waseda University
Ichiro Sakuma, Professor, The University of Tokyo
Masatoshi Ishikawa, Project Professor, The University of Tokyo
ROBOMACHINEs
Takashi Matsumura, Professor, Tokyo Denki University
Masanori Kunieda, Professor, The University of Tokyo
Eiji Shamoto, Professor, Nagoya University
Hitoshi Omori, Senior Researcher, RIKEN
Tsunemoto Kuriyagawa, Professor, Tohoku University

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・P20

Summary
Tojiro Aoyama, Professor, Keio University

・
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・P25

FANUC CORPORATION
Representa�ve Directors
Yoshiharu Inaba, Representa�ve Director, Chairman
Kenji Yamaguchi, Representa�ve Director, President and CEO (Moderator)
FA
Hiroshi Noda, General Manager, FA Business Division
Yoshiki Hashimoto, General Manager, CNC Hardware Research & Development Division
Yasusuke Iwashita, General Manager, CNC So�ware Research & Development Division
Masamoto Fukuda, General Manager, Servo Research & Development Division
Yuji Nishikawa, General Manager, Laser Research & Development Division
ROBOT
Kiyonori Inaba, General Manager, Robot Business Division
Kenichiro Abe, General Manager, Robot Mechanical Research & Development Division
Seigo Kato, General Manager, Robot So�ware Research & Development Division
ROBOMACHINE
Hiroyuki Uchida, General Manager, Robomachine Business Division
Zheng Tong, General Manager, Robodrill Research & Development Division
Satoshi Takatsugi, General Manager, Roboshot Research & Development Division
Akihiko Fujimoto, General Manager, Robocut Research & Development Division
Youngpyo Hong, General Manager, Robonano Research & Development Division
Administra�ve Staﬀ
Shunsuke Matsubara, GeneralManager,Research&DevelopmentPromo�on/SupportDivision
Masako Sudo, AssistantGeneralManager,Research&DevelopmentPromo�on/SupportDivision(Listed in order of comments)

4(Titles are as of June 18, 2021)

FANUC NEWS

President Yamaguchi: I am reallygrateful that many professors
gathered together today despite theirbusy schedules. I am Kenji Yamaguchi, President of FANUC. This year, we
decided to have an Open House and around-table talk in online form to put
safety and health �irst during the
COVID-19 pandemic, even though weusually get together around the time
Yamaguchiof the real Open House to have aface-to-face round-table talk. We had
no choice but to cancel the Open House and round-table talkscheduled in April 2020 due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.
This Open House is being held for the �irst time in about two
years since April 2019, although in virtual form. I believe thatthe contents are rich in terms of technology, though I do notintend to place pressure on our employees. We also have madeefforts on how to effectively show our products in an online
exhibition through trial and error for the past year. However,the professors here are much more familiar with online events
than we are. We would appreciate receiving your straightforward opinions and advice. Let us make today’s round-table talka success.

General Assessment of the New Products Open House Show

President Yamaguchi: First, we would like to ask Professor
Higuchi to comment on the online Open House as a whole.

Professor Higuchi: Because new
products for the past two years arebeing presented in this Open House, I
have been looking forward to seeing
the results, even if not in person.
First, as a whole, each exhibit andexplanation was brief and wellorganized in an easy-to-understandway despite the restrictions of an
online exhibition. I could not see even
Professor Higuchi
half of all the exhibits in two or threehours at previous Open Houses, but due to this year’s
Open
House being online, I was able to visit during my free time andsaw almost everything.
As a result, I noticed many details I had not known about
existing products. I am glad I was able to see the entire OpenHouse. It was a wonderful learning experience.
Because the Open House website �irst showed the contents ofexhibits, I began with individual exhibits. Then, I accessed
technical seminars and listened to the explanations of eachbusiness unit. In these technical seminars, the FA, Robot, andRobomachine business units presented an overview, the goals,

and highlights of their exhibits. It would be better if watching
seminars was recommended before seeing individual exhibits.
I felt that this year’s keyword for general product development
was “ease of use.” In the FA area, many of FANUC’s efforts
related to Digital Twin were presented under the title of“Evolution of Things and Innovation in Ideas.”
However, I personally do not like this buzzword, “Digital Twin.”
Such new terms are often created to give an impression of abrand new concept, but usually just end up confusing people.
This term could disappear in four or �ive years because it isactually a typical concept. The basic concept is nothing new, but
it stands out because vast volumes of data can now beprocessed at high speed at a relatively low price as a result of
the evolution of computer and digital technologies.
So, as a matter of course, FANUC has been working on Digital
Twin for a long time. Although products have not yet attained
the ideal forms expected in the future, FANUC has launchedmany different new products based on the concept of the realworld and a simulated world.
Now that interaction between the world of a simulated modeland the real world is almost instantaneous, it is actually
becoming increasingly important that machines work reliably
and that machining phenomena are properly understood.
It was mentioned in the FA seminar that FANUC will focus onreal technologies, and I believe that this is the right direction. In
addition, the development of sensors is crucial if there is going
to be frequent interaction between the real world and the world
generated by a computer. FANUC develops 3D vision sensors
and touch sensors for on-machine measurement for ultra-precision machining, and some of them were exhibited in the OpenHouse. My hope is that FANUC will develop such sensors moreaggressively.
Next, let me talk about robots. I found them to be the mostinteresting at this Open House. It is probably because robots are
more suitable to be presented online. In particular, it wasevident that the collaborative robot is widely used and its usage
is quite familiar. The main feature of the FANUC collaborative
robot is the highly sensitive force sensor built into the robot tomeasure the force when it comes in contact with people. At theexhibit, this sensor was used to measure the force when a robot
assembled a workpiece. This is an interesting idea.
As for Robomachines, it was clear that FANUC also focuses onease of use in addition to performance enhancements. Roboshot
received the Okochi Memorial Special Production Award lastyear for the development of an all-electric injection molding
machine for producing ultra-precision small compact plastic
parts, but it was not presented at the Open House. The Special
Production Award is the pinnacle of the Okochi Memorial
Award, indicating that the contribution of the Roboshot toprecision parts production is highly regarded.
Several years ago, I pointed out that FANUC conducted manydifferent projects but the projects were not closely coordinated5with one another. Seeing this year’s Open House, I felt thattechnologies have steadily been integrated among the threebusiness divisions.
I presume that the COVID-19 pandemic will end next year sothat you can have a real Open House. I prefer to see actual
products, after all. This online Open House must have given you
an opportunity to reassess a real Open House and see theadvantages and room for improvement of a real exhibition. I
hope that you will have a better Open House next year bycombining the strengths of an Open House in real and online
form. That is all from me.

President: Professor Higuchi, thank you for your comprehensive
comment on the overview of the Open House. I will take what
you said into consideration.
FA

President Yamaguchi: Now, let’s focus on FA in the �irst part.
First, we would like to hear from Professor Shirase.

Professor Shirase: I am Shirase
from Kobe University. Thank you forinviting me to this round-table talk
today. I usually speak later in thisround-table talk and therefore have a
lot of time to think while listening toother professors. Today I am thesecond speaker after Professor
Higuchi, so I am really nervous
because I did not have much time toProfessor Shirase
think.
As Professor Higuchi has said that hewould have rather watched the seminars before seeing the
introduction of individual exhibits, I would like to note that I did
watch the seminars �irst. I attended the seminars and listened
to the introduction of individual exhibits, and my impression
was that the presentations and documents were in line with thecommon theme of FA, which is the “Evolution of Things andInnovation in Ideas.”
There were three seminars about FA, Robots, and Robomachines. I was a bit disappointed to see that there were no
seminars on IoT or FIELD system. My guess is that the seminarabout FIELD system was not available because the businessdivisions organized the seminars. However, when you try tochange production sites through digital transformation andachieve “Evolution of Things and Innovation in Ideas,” linkage
with a host system, the means to make full use of a network,
and information security are critical. So, it would have been
better if you had a seminar on FIELD system.
Because the Open House was held online this year, I spent moretime than usual watching the introduction videos of individual

6exhibits. Holding an event online has both its advantages anddisadvantages. Viewers can watch the Open House any time andas many times as they wish. This means that viewers receive all
the information that FANUC wants to convey. This is anadvantage. A disadvantage of an online Open House is that you
cannot ask questions on the spot. I have the same opinion as
Professor Higuchi and also hope that you will hold a real OpenHouse next year.
What particularly impressed me is the dramatic evolution of
CNC as a result of performance improvements in CPUs. A
case-in-point is the Digital Twin that Professor Higuchi
mentioned. Faster CPUs enable what was impossible only alittle while ago. For example, I felt that the Fine Surface
Technology and the Fast Cycle Time Technology have advanced
to the next level or maybe even higher. I got the impression that
FANUC has considered several different speci�ic means ofsupporting the design, machining, and maintenance of machine
tools from the viewpoint of user support.
I was interested in the optimization of NC programs because I
have been studying how to make machine tools intelligent andautonomous for a long time. In the past, machine tools were
expected to operate exactly according to an NC program.
However, even when doing so, we have come to understand thatmachining results do not match CAD data. To optimize the NC
program, the CNC modi�ies the NC program using CAD data sothat the machining result comes even closer to the CAD data.
Although this is very effective, I believe that, in the ideal sense,
the machine tool should operate to exactly match the CAD data,as I have recommended for some time.
Because it is taken for granted that the machine tool operates
according to the NC program, I suspect that FANUC used thismeasure rather reluctantly, as the company has to follow thetrends of the times. Still, I hope that FANUC’s CNCs will
introduce a new world of machining, rather than dismissing theconventional way of operating a machine tool according to an
NC program. For example, using CAD data to operate machine
tools to achieve an incredible machined surface, or to complete
machining in a very short time.
In addition, I was impressed with the high level of sophistication of CNC GUIDE and Surface Estimation. CNC GUIDE is afunction that accurately simulates the machining time as well as
the movement and position of a tool, considering the acceleration/deceleration of the drive axis. The Surface Estimation
function obtains the tool position information from an actualmachine without conducting machining, and estimates themachined surface in very �ine detail. What is a bit disappointing
is that the machine tool must be dry run. A dry run enables tool
position information to be gathered in order to provide a
precise simulation of the movement of the machine. I hope
there will be further progress, with which accurate estimationof tool position information is possible even without a dry run.
Although, CNC GUIDE and Surface Estimation are very conve-

FANUC NEWSnient and effective tools, they are currently only available with
the CNC in the machine. It would be great from the user’s
standpoint if exact simulation could be performed on a PC
outside the machine. As a compromise, it would be bene�icial if
simulation were possible on FANUC’s IPCs.
As for ease of use, support for NC programming has become
very graphical and intuitive. Operators can now create NC
programs even without knowledge of G code or M code.
Although these codes have a long history, young people are notfamiliar with them and do not seem to be interested in what isgoing on behind the scenes, as long as they can create NC
programs as if they were playing a video game. So I hope thatyou will make great advancements in such user interfaces.
Another thing that surprised me was high dynamic turning.
This function supports a new machining technology in which
the linear and rotary axes are controlled while changing theangle of the turning tool rather than by simply moving theturning tool. I think this is similar to the machining technologythat makes full use of tools with new shapes, such as the recent
barrel tools for CAM. If this function is implemented in a CNC,
CAM will no longer be necessary. While it might be quite
dif�icult to eliminate CAM from FANUC’s perspective, I hope that
this will lead to a technology that enables incredible machining
with CAD data without having to use CAM, which I mentioned
before.
As a last comment, the introduction of individual themes showsthat IoT and FIELD system have signi�icantly advanced. Manydifferent cases were presented. As the evolution of technologies
related to machine tools and CNC, such as edge and fog, now
stand out, I hope that FIELD system will be leveraged to achieve“Evolution of Things and Innovation in Ideas” that are linked tosupply chains and scheduling on the cloud. Please make full useof FIELD system to develop the world of new manufacturingthat FANUC envisions.
Thank you for inviting me today.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Shirase. General
Manager Noda, do you have anything to add?

Noda: Thank you, Professor Shirase.
You mentioned a wide range of topics
so I will address some of the main
points. We selected Digital Twin as atheme for FA at this Open House andfocused on the “Ideas” aspect of“Things and Ideas.” Our thinking isthat a lot of information in the CNC isprocessed in the digital world andreturned to the real world. In otherNodawords, a virtual machine is built in
the digital world and its precision is
improved by exchanging information with the actual machine in

the real world. As a result, machining that is similar to actualmachining will be possible in digital space. The impact will beimmeasurable.
Regarding Surface Estimation, we currently use servo data fromdry runs and analyze information included in this data toestimate the machined surface as Professor Shirase pointed out.
As the next step, we plan to obtain the features of the actualmachine from servo data to make the virtual machine moresimilar to the actual machine, and estimate the actual machined
surface only through machining by the virtual machine.
We hope to make Surface Estimation available in a wide range
of applications including collaboration with CNC simulation
technology. As Professor Higuchi mentioned, the Digital Twin
concept is already quite common. For example, our CNC
operations include a process to check the program operation
using a simulator. This is an existing example of collaboration
with digital technology. So it can be said that this concept is
nothing new. However, I believe the potential of Digital Twin
has increased because the network technology and data-oriented technologies, including IoT and AI, have recently advanced
and have become more effective.
The scheme of the network is critical to process real information in the digital world. The importance of an edge platform
such as FIELD system will further increase, for example, to link
the real world and the digital world to digitally reproduce realdata. FANUC will strive to improve not only machining performance, but also to contribute to optimizing manufacturing sites
and offering unprecedented conveniences, by introducing theconcepts of DX and Digital Twin to the life cycle of machine
tools.
Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Now, Professor Hideki
Aoyama, please share your thoughts with us.

Professor H. Aoyama: Hello,
everyone. I am Aoyama from Keio
University. I really look forward to
FANUC’s Open House every year.
Thank you for inviting me again thisyear.
This is your �irst online Open House. I
have never attended an online
exhibition and was wondering what
it would be like. Once I actually
Professor H. Aoyama
participated, I really enjoyed it
because I was able to spend timeseeing a variety of exhibits other than those of my specialty in acalmer atmosphere than usual. I understand that it wasinevitable that I could not talk about what I noticed on the spot,
exchange opinions, and get an immediate response, but that is
the trade-off, I suppose. Under these circumstances, I appreci-

7

ate that FANUC organized this meeting to exchange opinions
today. As my specialty is FA, I will talk about what particularly
drew my attention regarding individual FA technologies.
I would like to begin with the implementation of the high-speed
CPU. This CPU has 2.5 times better small segment processing
performance, about 1.8 times better macro processing performance, and twice as many look-ahead blocks compared withprevious models. I was impressed by this tremendous performance. Small segment processing performance that is improved
2.5 times is particularly interesting. I have high expectations
that this function will achieve high speed and high precision inmachining curved surfaces, such as in machining the body moldfor the outer plate of an automobile. I would like to know ofsome machining examples where the high-speed CPU iseffective. I expect, for example, that the curved surface of themold for the outer plate of an automobile or very complicatedminute parts, such as aluminum die-cast molds, can bemachined with high speed and high precision.
This may sound like an amateur, but I look forward to thepossibility that the combination of the functions of thishigh-speed CPU, a high-precision encoder, and a high-precision
servo will increase the precision of skiving gear machining.
Although skiving gear machining has already been put topractical use, it is still dif�icult to apply it to the production of
top quality gears. I believe this technology can be used for theseapplications.
Next I will move on to the Digital Twin concept. Although it was
mentioned that the Digital Twin concept is just another namefor an existing technology, the term has a feeling of excitement
and I personally have high hopes for it. It would be ideal if theboundary between the digital world and the real world became
indistinguishable. For this to happen, it is important for FANUC
to work with developers of CAD, CAM, CAE, and other related
software. I think that this will also enhance the usefulness of
FIELD system.
I also believe the state of a real factory can be accurately
replicated in the digital world to signi�icantly improve quality inthe digital world, by relocating information from servos in thereal world into the digital world with technology that is the areaof FANUC’s expertise. I hope that you will put the Digital Twin
concept to speci�ic, practical use soon.
With Digital Twin, I have very high hopes for the function thatrecognizes servo position information using the servo viewer
and then estimates with high precision the machined surface
similar to the one during actual machining. If the machined
surface can be inspected to �ix faults before actual cutting, it will
be a strong advantage especially for mold manufacturers. The
ability to develop this function is the strength of FANUC, as asupplier of CNCs and servos. If you further develop thistechnology to re�lect mechanical characteristics such as thetorsional stiffness of a ball screw as well as the bending, wear,
and vibration of a tool to the movement of the machine tool, in

8

addition to servo information, the tool will be able to realistically simulate the machined surface, which should prove to be an
indispensable tool for mold manufacturers and machine toolbuilders. It would be superb if this technology enables theprediction of faults on the machined surface so that machining
conditions can be modi�ied beforehand.
This is also the subject of the mold machining technology study
group in the Japan Society for Die and Mould Technology, which
I am in charge of. At mold machining sites, aside from unexpected scratches on the machined surface, the precision of thecharacteristics of a mold shape and character line, as well as
unexpected machined surface aspects are the focus of muchattention. I also heard that the smoothness of the grinder usedby workers at mold machining sites is also included in theevaluation of the machined surface. So, if this simulation canassess the machined surface in advance, it will be a very
effective tool.
Now, let me talk about Fine Surface Technology. In this area, I
am keeping an eye on the optimization of machining programs.
Although this is probably possible in principle or in theory, therelationship between real machining and feedrate must be
optimized to solve the problem of deceleration resulting fromacceleration/deceleration control because the minimum setting
unit is 0.1 µm to 1 nm. I would like to have this optimization be
automated.
I also heard that the target form is estimated from a roughdiscrete point, in other words the zero crossing point, using
CAD data. I presume that the successful combination with
Digital Twin functions will play a vital role. The function todisplay the machined surface in three dimensions based on
FANUC’s Servo Guide information, and estimate the form to bemachined is also exceptional. The difference between theestimated form and the required form shown in CAD isequivalent to the motion error. If the path can be automaticallycorrected based on motion error information, machining
precision will further increase.
The fourth topic is AI Servo Tuning. This function automaticallytunes the gain �ilter and feedforward parameters along withacceleration/deceleration parameters. The bene�it of thisfunction for machine tool builders is obvious. In addition, theuse of AI Servo Tuning is very effective for users of machine
tools in general if the gain �ilter and acceleration/deceleration
parameters can be automatically optimized based on the weightof the form to be machined, the purpose of machining, andother conditions. So, I have expectations for this function to also
be provided to machine tool users at large.
The �ifth topic is Fast Cycle Time Technology. Although thistechnology is realized by applying the tool center point control
technology for 5-axis machining, high dynamic turning is reallyinteresting and probably highly effective in some applications. I
am also surprised to hear that the speed of AI contour control II
for lathes has doubled.

FANUC NEWSTo conclude, although this is not related to FA, from the wholeexhibit video, it was interesting to �ind that FANUC has adopted
the optimum topology design in designing the Robocut toreduce thermal deformation while suf�iciently strengthening
machine rigidity for high precision machining. Although
optimum topology design is useful in theory, the form would bedesigned without considering the manufacturing method.
It may work if you produce a single product with a 3D printer.
However, if casting is used in production, manufacturing of
casting molds and mold cores would be extremely dif�icult. I
heard that FANUC has adopted this technology in the mechanical design. I am very interested in how you have actuallyadopted topology optimization. I would really appreciate it if
you would explain it when you have time.
That is all from me. Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Aoyama. General
Manager Iwashita, who supervises software development, willanswer your questions.

Iwashita: Professor Aoyama, thankyou very much for your comments on
a wide range of topics. Regarding theDigital Twin concept, our development, while placing importance onreal world performance, was oriented
to improve performance using digitaltechnologies. The results were
presented at the Open House, as you
indicated.
Iwashita
The high-speed CPU that Professor
Aoyama mentioned will play a majorrole for a while as the speed of conventional processors was a
bit unsatisfactory in some real world scenarios.
In the digital world, feedback is presently displayed, as
mentioned earlier. We plan to develop this to perform simulations without operating the machine, or to simulate themechanical system, tool status and so on, as Professor Aoyama
pointed out, and compare simulations, feedback data, andactual machined surfaces to locate the cause of any problems
and improve precision. We would appreciate your advice on thedetails.
Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Now, we would like to hear from
Professor Takagi.

Professor Takagi: I am Takagi from Tokyo Institute ofTechnology. Thank you for inviting me today. As my specialty isanalog integrated circuits, I am a complete amateur regarding
machine tools. I did not see the online Open House thoroughly,
but I would like to tell you my impressions from what I saw.

As Professor Aoyama noted, FANUC
has improved machining precisionand machining performance andachieved acceleration with AI servo
tuning and AI thermal displacementcompensation. FANUC has also
further enhanced FIELD system thatit launched several years ago, and has
also started a digital utility cloud. I
also came across keywords such as
Professor Takagi“AI,” “IoT,” “cloud,” and “machinelearning.” Regarding FIELD system, I hope that the data that iscurrently being gathered becomes big data, so that many
applications will become available.
Everyone probably associates words like “AI” or “IoT” with theword “digital.” The government also established the Digital
Agency. As an analog circuit specialist, I feel out of placebecause it seems like the whole world is going digital.
However, an analog signal is always required before you canmake a digital signal. Signals in the natural world are analog
signals on a macro scale. Signals human beings can feel are also
analog signals. Although digital signals are very easy to handle,
the bridge for conversion between analog signals and digital
signals is indispensable. This is also true for IoT. The initial
sensing part is very important.
Sensing micro signals is a strong point of analogue circuits. I
was most interested in collaborative robots at this year’s OpenHouse. As you know, collaborative robots detect contact withpeople. How to capture micro signals while differentiating themfrom surrounding noise is a major target.
FANUC has consulted with me before about how to improve a
circuit they devised. I was considering reducing the number ofparts of the circuit to improve the circuit as much as possible,
when an assistant professor at our university who attended themeeting, proposed a completely different idea (details omitted).
In his proposal, the circuit itself was nothing new, but theadvantages of digital signal processing and the features ofanalog circuits were suf�iciently considered, as the assistantprofessor was familiar with digital circuits, digital signal
processing, software, and of course, analog circuits.
What I learned from this experience is that noise reduction isquite dif�icult if you only have knowledge about analog circuits,even if you are an expert. Although noise always gets mixed in
the detection, ampli�ication, and AD conversion paths, the pathwhere noise enters is shortened in the circuit that the assistantprofessor proposed, and this circuit, which is simple, converts
analog signals into digital signals. This made me realize thatnoise reduction is dif�icult unless you know about systems, even
if you are familiar with analog circuits.
That is all from me.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Takagi. General

9Manager Hashimoto, do you have anything to add?

Hashimoto: I am Hashimoto fromthe CNC Hardware Research &Development Division. Professor
Takagi has helped us in manydifferent ways. Thank you.
When developing hardware, it isactually not so dif�icult to design a
digital circuit. We only have to design
it according to rules based onreliability. The biggest challenge is in
Hashimotointegrating the sensing part, which isincreasing in importance signi�icantly in recent years, especiallythe high precision input of micro analog signals to the digitalworld. We consult Professor Takagi about these circuits as well.
(details omitted)
The sensing technology will remain critical to AI, IoT, and robot
applications. We appreciate your continuous support.
Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Next, Professor Hori, pleaseshare your comments with us.

Professor Hori: I am Hori from
Tokyo University of Science. I reachedthe mandatory retirement age and left
the University of Tokyo last March. In
April, I started working at the Noda
campus of Tokyo University of Scienceand everything is going well. Classes
are being held face to face for themost part. The atmosphere is young
and bustling with many students in
Professor Hori
their late teens. I cycle along the Tone
Canal. I study ways to supply power during driving and wirelesspower supply for electric vehicles, which has suddenly started
gathering attention.
I accessed your Open House several days ago. I �irst saw theoutlines at the seminars and then saw all the exhibits while
reading the technical documents that you gave me. It took awhole day.
Because this was not really at the venue, I could not see actual
products. Still, I have visited your Open House multiple times
and know the atmosphere and scale quite well. Because there
are constraints on time and stamina, I usually was guided to
exhibits close to my specialty at the venue. This year, I was able
to see all exhibits. As a result, I was able to see things I had not
known about for a long time, which was a real eye-opener.
FANUC has really emphasized not only its core technologies
such as FA, Robot, and Robomachine, but also activities tosupport them such as IoT, Service, and FANUC ACADEMY. I was

10

made aware once again that these were combined to become alarge force that has made FANUC what it is today. You have a
tradition built over time that cannot be created overnight. I am
impressed that FANUC keeps such a long distance fromshortsighted targets such as making money, which is the stanceof not a few companies. I remember the video on an Italiancompany. That was great.
On the other hand, I was wondering if FANUC properly keeps
track of the latest trends in the academic world in addition to
the great technologies you have developed, for the fundamental
technologies of FA, Robot, Robomachine and other areas. Frommy viewpoint, for completely new areas such as IoT, your stance
was to study as a beginner. At present, your efforts have now
completely paid off, which is awesome. However, when it comesto fundamental technologies, it cannot be denied that FANUC
has concentrated on developing technical skills internally fromthe past, and has not been much interested in the outside world.
Though the expression may be unpleasant, FANUC was a“closed” entity. Although FANUC is completely different now,
your basic sprit seems not to have changed much. Of course,
this is not a bad thing in the sense of being unique and autonomous.
For example, customer training accounts for almost all of thevideos introducing the ACADEMY. There was no explanation on
how FANUC adopts the latest information from the academic
world or how information is released from FANUC. You may saythat “this is not the objective of this Open House.” However, I
still think that the fact that FANUC assists its executives ingetting doctorates and closely works with universities is useful,
especially in increasing the trust of overseas customers andhiring excellent students in Japan as well.
Some may think that basic technologies such as servos havematured almost completely, and room for improvement is left
only in using AI in compensation or learning such as DL. But
this is not true. Control theory and control technology haveadvanced greatly over the past 20 to 30 years, many of which
would be helpful to FANUC. If you strengthen your limbs anduse your clever brains, you will probably be the strongest.
Moving a weak body with a sophomoric brain has its limits.
There is a linguistically paradoxical trend implying that you are
not human if you are not AI. But I think there is much more.
Please maintain your tough, uncompromising attitude.
That is all from me. Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you for your frank and honest
opinion, Professor Hori. Next, we would like to hear from
Professor Matsubara.

Professor Matsubara: I am Matsubara from Kyoto University.
Because other professors have already talked about generalmatters, I will stick to speci�ic topics. About the online OpenHouse, although you can make con�irmations by going back, I

FANUC NEWSfelt a bit frustrated about not being
able to immediately ask questions to
the exhibition staff. I am going toshare my thoughts based partly on myassumptions. If I am wrong about
anything, please correct me with yourcompensation and control, which
FANUC excels at.
I will bring up three points with afocus on what interests me now. I
Professor Matsubara
assumed that everyone would
mention Digital Twin, but my interest was in the machined
surface simulator. My �irst thought was that it is crucial to
improve its precision and level of sophistication. Hearing thatthe command value and servo value are used in this system, I
imagine that the originally intended surface and the surface
resulting from the change in movement arising from some
aspect of the machine are distinguishable. That is, the surfaces
which are affected by the characteristics of the machine are
identi�iable. Examples include a wide range of command values
such as an ideal command value, command value which
includes machine acceleration/deceleration, and a command
value that includes compensation values for machine friction
among others. Because this can be a headache to engineers andoperators, it is great that these can be separated.
Next, as an extension, the current simulator probably only
considers kinematic axes without recognizing the position of
the cutting tool edge of the spindle. If, for example, the shaperemoved by the cutting tool of an end mill can be recognized,
this would be extremely interesting. As Professor Hideki
Aoyama mentioned earlier, sensory evaluation is conductedduring mold machining and so forth. Although our doctorate
students create many different machined surfaces and conduct
sensory evaluations to check them, the desired roughness issometimes judged to be unacceptable and vice versa. This isdue to the shape left on the machined surface after the tool
passes through it, but that is Professor Matsumura’s �ield ofexpertise. It would be fantastic if this could be calculated.
Although mechanical phenomena, such as colliding, slipping,and vibrating, increase complexity in reality, knowledge of atleast the surface, before these phenomena occur, will give us areally important clue to understanding the machined surface.
The doctorate student mentioned before is studying how people
make judgments and the basis of their judgments by calculating
the intensity of light just before it enters the human eye after
diffusing off a machined surface. It would be very interesting if
the surface created with the machined surface simulator can beanalyzed.
In this context, I have high expectations for the synchronous
spindle motor. Because the induction motor handles slide
control, it is really nice that the speed can be properly
controlled in the synchronous motor. For example, if the tooledge of the rotating tool does not cut into the machining surface
at the same �ixed time, the pro�ile of the machining surface
deforms. This is because the phase changes. Researchers suchas Professor Hirogaki at Doshisha University and Professor
Ihara at Osaka Institute of Technology pour all their energy into
predicting the changes to match the phase of the pro�ile of themachined surface, which is quite a chore. Synchronization
between the translational axis and the spindle signi�icantly
makes this easier. Matching pro�iles of the machined surface
also affect subsequent processes, including ease of polishing.
Therefore, I presume that the synchronous spindle motor willdevelop into many different forms. “Things and Ideas” werementioned earlier. In my opinion, something such as sensitivity
will be added to bring about “value.”
As a last point, the temperature sensor unit was interesting. I
remember that FANUC introduced a vibration measurement
device two years ago that provided a 16-bit high-speed
response. This year, FANUC has targeted thermal displacement,
which is also very promising. We are also currently creating
many different thermal models on the machine side. The
hardest issues are contact thermal conduction and heattransfer. Because a machine tool supports heavy items with aguide, the heat �low keeps changing depending on the positionof the guide. Just measuring the temperature is of no use. You
must completely identify the current positions of the spindle
and table to understand the overall heat �lux. For example, you
should �ind optimal test patterns to identify the heat transfer
coef�icient for the contact surface, which is most dif�icult.
I would like you to focus on this area because the results can beapplied to create a mechanical design which is good in terms oftemperature.
That is all from me.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Matsubara. Now,
General Manager Fukuda from the Servo Research & Development Division will respond to the comments of Professor Horiand Professor Matsubara.

Fukuda: I am Fukuda from the Servo
Research & Development Division.
Thank you for your comments,
Professor Hori and Professor
Matsubara.
First, Professor Hori pointed out that
FANUC does not properly keep trackof the latest trends in academia to add
to our technologies. We will take thiscomment to heart and make improveFukuda
ments where necessary.
Regarding servos, we introduced servo tuning using AI this year.
From my understanding, Professor Hori’s point was that weneed to make sure we have our control theory right. Devices

11also evolve in terms of acceleration and other aspects at thesame time as control theory. We will seriously pursue control
that is suitable for devices as they evolve. Professor Hori has
also commented on power devices such as SiC every year. We
will also continue to develop new products, watching the trends
in SiC and new gallium-related devices in the industry. We
appreciate your continuous guidance.
I am also grateful for your comments, Professor Matsubara. To
begin with, you are correct in that we have not yet been able torecognize the shape of the cutting tool during the �irst
machined surface estimation. Currently, we can track the traces
of a cylindrical tool. We think that coordination between theexpertise of a CAM manufacturer and the part FANUC should bein charge of need to be well balanced. We also realize that there
is a difference between high precision and surface quality andare aware that even if high precision is achieved, it may fail insensory evaluation.
In addition, we will consider whether to leverage the synchronous spindle motor to ultimately control the phase of the
cutting tool edge. Currently, we are conducting comparativeveri�ication of a synchronous spindle motor and an induction
spindle motor. The veri�ication has revealed a variety of facts
including the pros and cons in machining, the pros and consthat depend on each workpiece, and differences in principle. In
the Robodrill, we are promoting the tapping spindle equippedwith a synchronous spindle motor, with focus on reducing cycle
time. We will consider the viewpoints the professors sharedwith us today as well.
Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Now, Professor Tanaka,
please let us hear your opinion.

Professor Tanaka: I am Tanaka
from the Joining and Welding
Research Institute of Osaka University. This is the �irst time that I havebeen invited to this round-table talk.
Thank you for inviting me. I gained alot of inspiration seeing this online
Open House.
I believe I am supposed to comment
on FA, but I am interested in robots
Professor Tanaka
because my specialty is welding
engineering. That is why I saw thelaser robot exhibit �irst. I was impressed with the laser scannerpresented at the exhibit. Welding technology is really aconglomeration of several technologies. Among them, thethree-dimensional Galvano scanner, robot, laser oscillator, andPC simulation software are all con�igured as a system with
FANUC products only. This re�inement embodies an advantage
of Japanese manufacturing, which is combining technologies

12complete in one package. Furthermore, FANUC is involved in
welding technology from the user’s viewpoint. This is symbolized by the integrated linkage between ROBOGUIDE, Galvano
scanner, and robot. In particular, complicated welding patterns
can be checked on the 3D screen, and the Galvano scanner androbot can be integrated and taught at the same time. While thisused to be a very troublesome task, it can be easily performedby anyone visually. That is great from the user’s perspective.
In the hardware area, I found the “wobbling function” to�luctuate laser beams to be useful. It is noteworthy that the
wobbling function can be added to the free curve of laser
irradiation. The gap width is very challenging when welding
various shapes of three-dimensional �ittings as it varies by
location. Laser beams are advantageous in that they are �inely
focused. The �inely focused laser beam becomes a heat sourcethat expands spatially at an hourly average and changes into a
tailor-made method for smart welding. These are coordinatednaturally. As a result, welding is possible even when there is adifference of 30% in sheet thickness. I particularly found it
great that fume does not stick to the end of welding beads evenwhen a galvanized sheet is welded. The video of the beautiful
bead was impressive. Little fume means little metallic vapor(also known as “smut” in the welding �ield) from base materials
such as zinc or the weld pool. I was surprised to see how
skillfully controlled the temperature in the weld pool was.
Distortion and deformation resulting from welding are also
probably kept low because heat input is controlled.
Now, let me talk about the OCT (optical coherence thermography) sensor. This sensor measures the penetration depth during
welding in real time and controls the quality of the welding partat the same time, making dif�icult welding very easy. As awelding engineering expert, it has been my dream to ultimately
make reliable welding possible just by pressing a button,
without requiring training and knowledge. This laser scanner isvery close to making this dream come true.
I was also inspired by the hairpin welding of copper wire. The
welded section is formed very stably by irradiating the ends oftwo copper wires with a laser to effectively form a weld poolthrough high-speed laser �luctuation and reliably bridging
them. In particular, spatter is reduced effectively during
welding. Other professors have said that hardware re�inement
is critical to handling this high-speed �luctuation in a laser
beam, and I think this technology is top class in the world, in
this sense. In particular, as the achievement of carbon neutrality
is an important challenge for Japan, the role of electric motors
for automobiles, power generation, or other purposes is
becoming extremely important. In this context, this hairpin
welding of copper wire proposes a stable welding technology
with high quality and high ef�iciency in manufacturing electricmotors, largely contributing to society.
Lastly, I was impressed with your Digital Twin concept in FA,even though this is not my specialty. Because Digital Twin is

FANUC NEWSalso mentioned in the 6th Science, Technology, and Innovation
Basic Plan, it seemed to me that FANUC is advocating a newform of “manufacturing society” that Japan is aiming for in acertain sense. As I recall, the Digital Twin technology for
subtractive manufacturing was introduced in the FA area at thisyear’s Open House. I hope that FANUC will develop thistechnology for welding.
Additive manufacturing (AM) will be important in addition tosubtractive manufacturing for creating machine parts in the
future. There are many different AM methods. Even when thematerial is metal powder, welding technologies accumulated
over the past is applied. However, casting technologies should
not be replaced simply by adding materials. I hope that FANUC
will create values which are only possible with AM. In thissense, I would like FANUC to thoroughly apply the Digital Twin
concept to welding technology. That would lead to new
developments in the future. It would be best if you could design
and manufacture a new structure only possible with AM incyberspace and return that information to physical space.
Integration between cyberspace and physical space as well as
integration between subtractive manufacturing and additive
manufacturing (AM) will become the new foundation of
manufacturing in the future. I look forward to FANUC’s continuous development.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you Professor Tanaka. I greatly
appreciate your joining this round-table talk for the �irst time.
Your comments on welding and other topics were reallyrefreshing. We are very grateful. Now, we would like to hearfrom General Manager Nishikawa from the Laser Research &Development Division.

Nishikawa: I am Nishikawa from theLaser Research & Development
Division. Thank you Professor Tanaka.
We are very �lattered to hear so many
positive comments from you. The
laser scanner you mentioned wasmade with the aid of many otherresearch & development divisions at
FANUC, not just by the Laser Research& Development Division. We worked
Nishikawaon it for a long time, repeatedly used
it in the company, and thoroughly checked it in reliability tests
before commercialization.
We will probably receive many different requests once this iscommercialized. In addition, changes including new usage, newworkpiece materials, and new workpiece shapes will appear. Allof our research & development divisions will work together toimprove the laser scanner.
That is all from me.

President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Now, Professor Sasahara,please give us your comments.

Professor Sasahara: I am Sasahara
from Tokyo University of Agriculture
and Technology. Thank you forinviting me to this round-table talkagain. This is also the �irst time that I
attended this type of online exhibition. I saw many different exhibits
and they each drew my attention
because they were so interesting.
Because the other professors talked
Professor Sasahara
about many different topics around
FA, I am only going to speak about a few main points. As I study
cutting and wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), I am
going to mainly talk about matters related to them.
First, regarding the improvement of performance to process
minute blocks of NC equipment, I have the impression fromexchanging information in academic meetings or otheroccasions that, unfortunately, even among engineers specializedin cutting, there are few who correctly understand what thesuitable small segment length is when cutting a curved surface
with an NC. Surprisingly, not many engineers understand thatthe shorter the small segment length, the smaller the angle
changes, which results in a decrease in deceleration andenables high-speed motion. Many engineers seem to retain thememory of a decade ago when the capability of NC equipment
was still low and say that it is permissible if the old small
segment length falls within tolerance or, on the contrary, alonger small segment length decreases the amount of data,
reduces control points, and enables high-speed operation.
Universities also conducted related studies and the results
show that a shorter small segment length in the range that NC
equipment can process results in higher speed and improves
precision. Therefore, the direction is exactly the same as that of
FANUC that was presented at this Open House. I believe
education and promotion about how the line segment length
should be set are required mainly for machining engineers andCAM operators, although academia should also be responsible.
If education and promotion is not carried out, even if the NC
equipment is increased in speed, it might not be fully effective
for enhancements in speed and precision if the input NC
program is not appropriate.
Another issue in this context is the optimization of machining
programs. I carefully examined a slide and found that theinterval between control points optimized in NC equipment was
smaller than the interval according to G code. I assumed that
this optimization was internally addressed on the NC. If theuser has no need to be aware of acceleration and precision
enhancement, it would be a huge step forward.
Next, regarding AI servo tuning. As I recall, the feedforward

13

value was a target at the last Open House. I felt there wereadvancements this year with the addition of the gain �ilter andacceleration/deceleration. According to the video, parameter
adjustment takes 30 minutes for gain, 30 minutes for feedforward, and 60 minutes for acceleration/deceleration, which is arelatively short time for identi�ication. I was curious to knowwhat operations are performed for identi�ication. Parameters
can be tuned to be optimal to meet the needs of the actualmachining situation. For instance, in mass production, optimization can be focused on the precision of curved surfaces, or the
speed for machining parts, or the different weight of workpieces. This would offer high values to users.
The new NC for lasers was also interesting. It was explained tome that FANUC’s high-speed, high-power laser can immediately
be mounted on a machining center or lathe with this NC. I
understood this to mean that a machine tool can be readily
developed that combines subtractive manufacturing, laser
machining, and laser welding. If lasers can be controlled as
desired, they can be applied to DED (Directed Energy Deposition)-type additive manufacturing (AM) equipment where
powder or wire is supplied and then melted and layered withlaser energy. Though FANUC’s current lineup does not include
AM equipment, the technology is feasible. I look forward to thedevelopment of a purely made-in-Japan combined laser/cutting
machine or AM machine. The development of a machine
combining laser subtractive manufacturing (cutting) and
DED-type AM equipment (multi-function machine) is also
feasible and would be exciting.
I also found adaptive control welding with the arc welding
robot very interesting. As I recall, even if the sheets to be joined
are slightly misaligned, the robot detects the misalignment andthen welds them appropriately. There are some issues concerning the wire arc AM (WAAM) using arc welding. For example,
the layer height cannot be controlled precisely, and with sloped
walls, molten metal is pulled by gravity to solidify unevenly. As aresult, in certain cases, molding cannot be performed as
desired. With this technology, however, the previous layer canbe identi�ied so that the next layer can be placed in a manner tocompensate the former layer to achieve the correct form. This
technology is very useful not only for welding but also for wirearc AM. As reference, wire arc AM is possible with the combination of a welding robot and MIG welder.
As a last word, let me comment on robots. Because I also
research cutting, I have an interest in robot milling as well. I
think that applications and �ields where robots are used for
subtractive manufacturing, such as cutting, will gradually
spread in the future. Because there are limitations in hardness
and precision compared to machine tools, machining ef�iciency
and precision will not be as good. However, I think that milling
applications with robots will start such as with the machiningof materials of large parts or materials with small cutting
resistance. I also have hopes for such developments, though

14

they may be already in progress.
That is all from me. Thank you.

President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Sasahara.
Because Professor Sasahara has asked questions on manydifferent topics, the relevant departments will answer themseparately. Now, we would like to hear from the last speaker on
FA. Professor Shinno, please let us hear your comments.

Professor Shinno: Thank you for the
introduction. I am Hidenori Shinno.
First, allow me to use this opportunity
to inform you that I was appointed
President of Polytechnic University,
which is under the supervision of the
Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare, on April 1 this year.
Presently, I regularly organize
workshops on speci�ic technical
Professor Shinno
topics to exchange information
between experts and other attendants as a facilitator of theindustry-government-academia technology advisory panel of
the Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA). The
results of a recent survey of corporate members con�irm thatmany machine tool builders are interested in ICT, AI, Digital
Twin, CPS, and DX as technical challenges, in addition toconventional technical topics, namely, thermal deformation andchatter vibration in machine tools.
The exhibits at this year’s New Products Open House Show
2021 cover all the above-mentioned keywords and provide atimely source of information that is exactly what customers
need. In other words, FANUC devotes itself to dealing with thetechnical challenges which machine tool builders, who are yourmain customers, currently have the most interest in. For
example, FANUC introduces application examples and provides
practical information for concepts such as “Digital Twin
Concept of CNC.” Customers who visited this Open House could
see speci�ic examples of Digital Twin made famous by the media
and other parties, and were made aware that most of theperipheral technologies needed to take advantage of thebene�its of Digital Twin are now readily available.
However, as Professor Higuchi pointed out, the concept oftaking data in physical space and reproducing and simulating it
in digital space is nothing new. So, more than a few people may
wonder what the differences are from previous technologies. In
the future, we should make Digital Twin dynamically interconnect physical and digital space so that they complement eachother, such as by using ever-changing information obtained by
sensors on phenomena that are not understandable in physicalspace, and reproducing and estimating these phenomena indigital space in real time, to execute the required process. I
believe that such Digital Twin technology can be used toFANUC NEWSdevelop self-diagnosis functions of production systems, andeven self-repairing functions, which are considered to be quite
dif�icult.
At Polytechnic University, we research and develop the learning
factory, which is a Cyber Physical Production System (CPPS) for
education and training of manufacturing to keep up with the
Fourth Industrial Revolution. We may ask FANUC and theprofessors who are here today for your cooperation andsupport in the future, and would appreciate your consideration.
Now, let me summarize my impression of the exhibits as awhole.
(1) From a quick look at the exhibits at this Open House, I got
the impression that the product names cannot be easily
associated with the hardware and software products. Perhaps
FANUC is too serious-minded. In my opinion, more user-friendly names are preferable. Examples are “ZDT,” “iRVision,” “QSSR,”
and “FabriQR Contact.” It is very dif�icult to intuitively guess
what these products are from these names. Especially, regarding the product names of Robonano, which are “α-NMiA” and“α-NTiA,” I presume “M” and “T” stand for “machining” and“turning,” but as these letters are in the middle of the productnames, it is dif�icult for customers to easily differentiate the two
types of products.
(2) Although there were exhibits that emphasized “compactness” here and there, I did not see any clever way for letting
visitors get a feel of the size of the products. For example, it was
hard to see the extent the servo lineup has been reduced in size
compared to previous servos.
(3) Although “new” is repeatedly used in many exhibited
products, which parts are new and in what sense they are new
are not suf�iciently explained and their selling points are notclear. You should distinctly show the advantages such as “theproduct was newly developed for this Open House,” “theproduct has new functions not available in past FANUC
products,” “the product is innovative and unique to FANUC,” or“the product achieves the highest performance ever.” I believethat you could effectively appeal to customers by explicitly
showing what is new in the products.
(4) Robots will be increasingly installed and deployed in the
production environment in the future. I could see that FANUC isreally focusing on collaborative robots at this exhibit. The
performance improvement of the collaborative robot itself
including speed and precision, and intelligence are expected to
be enhanced signi�icantly. In the 1990s, research was conductedfrom time to time on collaborative control of multiple robots,with the main focus on using robots to do tasks humans were
doing. The results of such studies have outgrown the realm oflaboratory research and are now being applied to actual
production systems. It has been also pointed out that the
productivity of Japanese manufacturing, which was consideredhigh, is actually low. Given this background, I hope that FANUC
will make new proposals for practical industrial applications,for example, to streamline complicated tasks that were
impossible for human beings to carry out, or to perform
extreme tasks that are dif�icult for a single robot, by using
multiple collaborative robots.
That sums up my personal impression on the New Products
Open House Show 2021. In ending, let me make one morecomment even though it is not a direct impression of this OpenHouse. FIELD system was the centerpiece of past Open Houses.
However, in this year’s exhibit, FIELD system was slightly toned
down. FIELD system is positioned as the underlying technology
for realizing CPS and CPPS, which machine tool builders will beinterested in the future. I hope that FANUC will establish anddevelop implementation technologies to skillfully integratemathematical, data science, and AI technologies in FIELD
system.
Every year, I come to your Open House, wondering what
innovative technologies you will present. I look forward to yourfuture Open Houses.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Shinno. Now,
Chairman Inaba will wrap up the part focused on FA.

Chairman Inaba: Thank you,
Professor Sasahara, Professor Shinno.
I had assumed that Professor
Sasahara was going to talk about AM
and was a bit surprised to hear him
talk about the Open House as a whole.
However, as Professor Sasahara’s
range of research is broad, I appreciate what he noticed and the advice hehas offered, not limited to AM. ThankY. Inaba
you very much.
Regarding minute block machining, though precision is toppriority for parts machining, for machining the free-form
surface of molds, achieving good surface quality is the biggest
hurdle, and I feel that we are still halfway in obtaining satisfactory results. Professor Shirase has given us guidance on thesetechnologies. What is important is retaining the enormous
amount of CAD data up till machining to create a smooth cutter
path. I think that we have managed to take a step forward
through our research. We will further re�ine our technologies inthis �ield.
In addition, no matter how good the commands are, unlessthere is tuning, the machine cannot exert maximum performance. We are grateful that AI Servo Tuning gathered attention.
We are making efforts to build a function that enables everyone
to perform near optimal tuning quickly and easily, although
there are still limitations. Regarding AM, we did not exhibit AM
using wires, which is Professor Sasahara’s specialty this year,
but we are developing the underlying technology, and would
appreciate your continuous support.

15

Now, let me thank Professor Shinno as well. I have also been
recently appointed as Chairman of JMTBA and look forward to
your cooperation. We would appreciate it if you would help indeveloping new machine tool technologies, especially application of new materials and use of IoT technology.
Professor Shinno also mentioned a wide range of topics.
Regarding the Digital Twin concept, I think that what we aimed
for back in the IMS project is in fact being promoted again in theworld using a different term and appearance. One could say that
we are learning from the past. We will develop this technology
in order to bridge physical space and cyberspace, and produce
reliable results in the world of simulation. We will target
prototyping and machining which bear fruit, rather than justtout the term.
Lastly, though some of your comments were rather disheartening, they were also very stimulating. Actually, the main theme ofthis year’s exhibit was ease of use. We tried to develop andexhibit products from the user’s standpoint, but your comments
brought home to us that we still see things only from thedeveloper’s perspective in our own world. We intend to developfunctions, determine product names, and perform otheractivities from the user’s standpoint. We appreciate yourcontinuous support.
ROBOT

President Yamaguchi: Now, moving on to robots. First, we
would like to hear from Professor Asama.

Professor Asama: I am Asama fromthe University of Tokyo. Thank you forinviting me to the online New
Products Open House Show andround-table talk today. I have been to
your Open House several times, but
because last year’s Open House wascanceled, it felt like a long time since I
saw your exhibits. I saw various
displays, technical seminars, among
Professor Asama
others, but as others have said, I was
not able to interactively ask questions face-to-face. Still, it wasquite convenient since I was able to see many different exhibits
while sitting in my chair.
I will make a brief comment mainly about robots. Although I
had the strong impression that FANUC was a manufacturer
specialized in hardware and control, after seeing this year’s
exhibits, I got the feeling that the company is changing into an
all-round manufacturer that provides digitization, intelligenceand services. I now have the strong impression that FANUC
integrates state-of-the-art technologies such as ICT, IoT,
machine learning, and AI, to further enhance the value of robot
products and services and boldly attempts to develop new

16

global businesses.
Speci�ically, various types of robots are commercialized formany different applications in a wide range of manufacturing
processes. The lineup is really rich and ful�illing. FANUC hasdeveloped and commercialized a wide range of products
centered on highly reliable and robust hardware, along withhigh performance and safe control systems such as can be seenin collaborative robots. These include sensing systems such as
vision sensors, laser sensors, and laser scanners up to a newend effector called “Soft Gripper.” Furthermore, FANUC comprehensively is engaged in a wide range of businesses among
which are the use of intelligence and systems for bin-picking
and unloading, design support tools such as ROBOGUIDE, statusmonitoring, failure prediction, failure diagnosis, maintenance,and other services that use IoT, networks and AI such as Zero
Down Time, and education using practical training materials. I
feel that FANUC is stably advancing every year.
In particular, amidst requirements to prevent the spread of the
new coronavirus, an environment in which ef�icient production
is possible without close human contact is in demand in the
manufacturing industry, with attention on life with and after
COVID-19. I am sure that FANUC’s robot technologies willcontribute to meeting these needs. As the world aims to build ahuman-centric society known as “Society 5.0,” these human-focused production systems will be increasingly important in
next-generation manufacturing. As technologies to support
people in various ways in coexistence with human beings are
expected to play an important role in the future, FANUC’s
collaborative robot will become more vital. As you may know,
the collaborative robot CRX received the Minister of Economy,
Trade and Industry Award at the Robot Award, last year. I would
like to express my sincere congratulations.
For the past two years I have been serving as the director of
Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering, which was justset up in the School of Engineering. I have talked with people
from various manufacturing companies. Many of them have a
lot of concerns including the aging society with a low birth rate,labor shortage, and maintenance of international competitiveness as the social environment dramatically changes. In
addition to automation, I found it extremely important toincrease the capabilities of manufacturing sites, that is,continuously develop people, to solve these challenges andmaintain competitiveness.
FANUC stands out with its developments from the customers’
viewpoint. I presume customer satisfaction is very high, but it
will be also important to raise employee satisfaction in the
future. As the other professors have pointed out, the development of cyber-physical systems and Digital Twin using digitaltechnologies is accelerating and was one of the highlights at thisyear’s Open House. Professor Higuchi said that the term “Digital
Twin” may eventually disappear, but the Research into Artifacts,
Center for Engineering is now promoting the concept of “Digital

FANUC NEWS

Triplet,” taking Digital Twin one step further. The cyber-physicalsystem and Digital Twin are to be leveraged by people. It will be
important to turn people’s skills and knowledge into explicit
knowledge and digital data, and support people’s production
activities through their use. We would like to work on thesechallenges through collaboration with companies.
In the future, it will be important to promote service development, ef�iciency in design and production, rapid improvement,
and other goals, based on digital transformation and big data,
and at the same time, extract and utilize skills and experiencefrom workers and engineers on site, and use these to build andimprove an environment which will support their activities.
These should be linked to encourage people’s development andgrowth to make, not only customers, but also employees feel
more motivated, more satis�ied, and happier.
For this end, it will become even more important to understandthe people the system supports and coexists with. Futurecollaborative robots must understand people, and safely
operate while estimating and predicting people’s behaviors andintentions. They must also know how they should support
people to reduce physical and mental burdens and take action.
For example, robots should guide people to reduce humanerrors, motivate people, or provide a feeling of achievement. I
think that these capabilities will be important. It would be ideal
if we could further clarify the speci�ication requirements ofcollaborative robots for understanding people, and position
these robots as workers’ partners in the manufacturingindustry. I sincerely hope that FANUC will continue to advanceas a leader in the manufacturing world.
That is all from me.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Asama. Now, we
would like to hear from Professor Sugano.

Professor Sugano: I am Sugano fromWaseda University. Thank you forinviting me today. Congratulations on
the triple awards that the CRX
received.
Speaking of the CRX, I found the videoof the CRX interesting and watched it
several times as I study robots thatcan coexist with people. I must admitthat I did not actually see many other
Professor Sugano
exhibits, so, I would like to mainlycomment on the CRX.
First, as I mentioned two years ago, the design of the CRX isvery sophisticated compared with the green robot, which has avery “robotic” appearance. I hope that you will continue todesign your robots in this direction.
Regarding speci�ic functions, I saw direct teaching and collaboration with AGVs several times. Due to COVID-19, academic

meetings are currently not being held on site either. Exhibitions,which are usually combined with academic meetings, are notbeing held at all. There is only video streaming at every
academic meeting, and we no longer have opportunities totouch new robots directly.
Though I really respect FANUC’s efforts to create ingenious
videos under these circumstances, actual details of robots
cannot be understood via video alone. I imagine that the otherprofessors attending this round-table talk would also verymuch prefer to directly touch and watch robots move because
their own areas of expertise are robots and machines. I also
want to show the features of robots such as their movements
and their control on the extent of force at workshops, but havefound it dif�icult to convey what they are actually like.
For example, even if you described direct teaching by sayingthat “it is very soft and very easy to do,” many companies anduniversities would use similar expressions, therefore thedifferences would not be understood. We have also tried a lot ofthings to convey the differences in my laboratory. For example,
we calculated how much force is actually transmitted to the endof the robot’s hand and facilitates movement during directteaching. Let’s assume that instead of a human, a robot
performs direct teaching for another robot. If you measure theforce at the end of the robot’s hand that is performing directteaching and that force is small and is free of vibration, you canknow that the direct teaching is very smoothly executed.
Needless to say, when we will be able to hold face-to-face events
again, just touching the robot will be suf�icient. However, for aclear understanding of such features in a remote location,
where touching the robot is not possible, you must do something extra in the presentation. I have hopes that FANUC cancome up with creative ideas. After all, touching a robot will
reveal its value. Please consider how to make this possible.
Next, let me comment on AGVs. I heard that FANUC was notengaged in the development of AGVs in the past but has recently
started with SCARA robots among others. At this Open House, I
saw a video in which the AGV was used for positioning with amachine tool and for actual transport. FANUC excels at
precision and vision technologies but does not seem to haveintegrated them into this application. I think that you can easily
develop a movement where an ordinary AGV freely moves, andthe machine tool performs high-precision machining without
using a clamp or any other tool. I really would like you to
consider developing such a system.
Another thing I want to mention is the soft gripper. I saw a very
short video of tomato harvesting. I also think that the use ofrobots in agriculture is vital, and have been involved in researchand development of agricultural robots. Tomato harvesting is
not easy. The robot may be able to pick and collect tomatoes in a
speci�ic environment. However, unlike in a factory, farm goods
are natural products and are different in every manner. Robots
need to adapt to the environment and meet the requirements

17

unique to the product. While watching the video, I wondered a
bit if FANUC plans to enter into the agricultural industry. If you
have conducted other agricultural application experiments, I
would really like to see them.
I would like to talk about two more things. When I came to theOpen House two years ago, a high-speed picking robot was
exhibited. The challenge was to con�irm to what extent the
robot could conduct the operations of a so-called distributor. I
would like to know about the development of this robot
because there was no related exhibit this year. Another thing I
noticed is that AI technologies were hardly included in the
introduction of robots. This may be because AI is already taken
for granted. However, I believe that AI will be integrated into
hardware in the future and will evolve into a new AI. AI will not
be added to robot hardware but hardware will be integrated
into AI. This could be thought of as a Digital Twin from anotherpoint of view. If you come up with a new AI, that is, an AI
integrated with hardware, the robot AI can be differentiatedfrom other AIs.
That is all from me. Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Sugano. General
Manager Abe from the Robot Mechanical Research & Development Division and General Manager Kato from the Robot
Software Research & Development Division will comment on
what Professor Asama and Professor Sugano have said.

Abe: I am Abe from the Robot
Mechanical Research & Development
Division. Thank you for your valuablecomments, Professor Asama,
Professor Sugano. I am also gratefulthat you congratulated us on theawards we received. You mentioned
employee satisfaction earlier, andreceiving these awards reallyencouraged all our employees. We areAbenow much more motivated. We ask
for your continued support.
As Professor Asama said, for a long time FANUC provided robot
hardware, control, machines, and software, but how they wereused was left to customers. Now, we are facing a situation
where the usage of robots must be considered in order for them
to be installed, or they will be seen as being very dif�icult to use.
We selected ease of use as a theme for this Open House because
we wanted to focus on people and examine how people caneasily use robots and how each customer wants to use them.
The birth of the collaborative robot is also indicative of this.
Professor Sugano has helped us a lot. I still remember when you
said that the collaborative robot must look good. Professor
Asama also gave us similar advice. As a result, the design of the
CRX was a major aspect from the beginning, and we are proud18

to have created something different from our conventional
products. However, as Professor Asama said, this is just the
beginning. We expect further developments where robots
deeply understand people and where one robot directly teaches
another robot for mutual assistance, as Professor Sugano
mentioned earlier. We would like to evolve our products
including the CRX series based on many different pieces ofadvice.
Now, General Manager Kato will talk about direct teaching, AI
and picking.

Kato: I am Kato from the Robot
Software Research & Development
Division. Thank you for yourcomments, Professor Asama, Professor Sugano. All of your suggestions,such as making it more natural andeasier to use direct teaching andoperating a robot without �ixing its
installation position are important
improvements to make it easier for
Kato
people to use robots. As Professor
Asama said, robots that can be used in human-centric production systems are increasingly needed in today’s world, which issuffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will aim to develop
robots that can be smoothly installed in factories where people
work, but there are still many challenges to overcome. These
include automated setting of welding and machining conditions
and further facilitation of teaching. In addition, we have been
continuing our research and development of high-speed picking
and AI, though we did not exhibit such new products at thisOpen House. We will work to show you new products andfunctional enhancements at the next Open House. Please
continue to help us in these �ields as well.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Now, Professor Sakuma,
please let us hear your comments.

Professor Sakuma: I am Sakuma
from the University of Tokyo. Thankyou for inviting me. My specialty is
perhaps a bit different from thespecialties of other professors. I study
biomedical engineering. In relation to
robots, I study surgery assistancerobots, treatment support, andbioinstrumentation. In a sense,
treatment could be thought of as
Professor Sakuma
processing of a living organism.. The
other professors have already commented on robots and othersubjects, so I would like to make remarks from a slightly
different viewpoint.

FANUC NEWSFirst, I thought the online Open House was great in that you cantake your time and look at things repeatedly as other professors
have also mentioned. On the other hand, there was no interaction, though I guess that the professors were able to imagine
what they are like to some extent just by watching the videos
because they have seen the actual products. This method is very
useful in conveying information but there is probably a betterway. The manner in which the Open House will be held willchange a bit after the pandemic settles down.
I also thought that the collaborative robot that works withpeople is related to bioengineering. In fact, when I saw acollaborative robot at the Robot Exhibition in December 2019
before the COVID-19 pandemic, I remember thinking that a
robot worked with people and was almost like the medical
robot we were studying.
The next topic is the vision sensor. The surgical robot usedduring endoscopic surgery works with vision. The question of
how vision is processed is actually very close to the problem weare working on. For example, there is much activity related tousing AI for surgery assistance images. Professor Hori said
earlier that many different activities are being conducted byacademic societies. You might be able to �ind clues by looking
into these activities. In this context, I remember that I talked
about the safety of personal robots at a committee chaired byProfessor Sugano nearly 20 years ago. I think that the discussion of that time is critical.
Although FANUC explained that safety is ensured because therobot stops when it hits something, I do not think it is that
simple. You must work with customers, identify application
scenarios, and manage safety risks within those scenarios. I
think you will discover several patterns while introducing
robots. It would be great if you could roughly categorizeef�icient applications where safety is reliably ensured, andconsolidate case studies.
In addition, when people work with a robot, the robot cannot
ensure safety without anticipating people’s behavior to someextent. On the other hand, the whole system must recognize
what task is currently underway. In fact, this is now a majorarea of research in the surgery assistance �ield. We have started
thinking about changing the control method based on anunderstanding of what is presently going on in the surgery
process as well as the whole system. When people work with arobot, the robot must guess what actions people will probably
take under certain circumstances to collaborate, even if it isinevitable that there will be people that do unpredictable
things.
Now, let me comment on sensors. Sensors in this context, moreor less mean devices that passively measure events in thephysical world. A robot actually has a bunch of moving actuators equipped with many different sensors. Although a force
sensor was �itted in the exhibited collaborative robot, I thinkthat it can also collect a response when the workpiece receivesa speci�ic stimulus. Excuse me for expressing in bioengineeringterms. I think these sensors can also do something like “active
sensing.” In light of this, you can consider broadening yourde�inition of “sensor” a little bit.
Regarding digital technologies, as you know, remote medicalcare has started. Because the number of available sensors islimited, the current state of remote medical care is basically justdiagnoses via an interview. This means that the manner withwhich information is collected on that occasion is important.
There was a discussion on analog and digital earlier, butdigitalization actually means you are cutting off information. In
relation to simulation, if interpreted in a bad way, it can beadapted to anything by tuning parameters. In a simulated
world, you need veri�ication to con�irm that the computing
system is reliably calculating the model, and validation tocon�irm that the model itself is appropriate. I think determining
how to develop these processes is a future challenge.
As for the combination of simulation and AI, AI now seems to bethought of as a cure-all. I do not think that this is completely
true. Although it is truly crucial that you can logically create thesimulator and numerical model in terms of constructive theory,
we have no idea about the parameters needed to create such
simulators and numerical models for living organisms.
For example, let us assume that there is an average value anddispersion around it. If this does not match with experimental
data and there is an inverse problem, AI may be used to someextent as a different approach. While listening to your discussions, it seemed to me that how to adapt the simulator to reality
and actual sites is a challenge for the future.
Lastly, although education was mentioned earlier, making
things easy to use and creating an easy-to-use system, asemphasized at this Open House, are key propositions from a
researcher’s point of view. They are good for ef�icient manufacturing. However, if you pursue ease of use too much, things
become too simple, possibly resulting in a situation where you
are just going through the motions without understanding theessence of what you are doing. This is probably a challenge that
universities must overcome, but I thought it was something weshould consider.
From this standpoint, many different kinds of digital data havebecome available. Although data is presently used based on thecurrent way of thinking, I think that data contains informationthat provides a lot of potential when viewed from manydifferent aspects. In fact, the data is a gold mine for companies.
From a researcher’s perspective, you can do a variety of thingsby coming up with ideas for using the data. I would like you togive some thought to how businesses and universities cancooperate with one another to work on these issues.
That is all from me. Thank you very much.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Sakuma. Now,
Professor Ishikawa, please share your comments.

19

Professor Ishikawa: I am Ishikawa
from the University of Tokyo. I reallylooked forward to this Open Housebecause it has been two years since
the last one and because the OpenHouse was going to be held online.
Like other professors, I was also able
to see the entire Open House. As awhole, I saw large advancements inthe areas of sensing, processing,
Professor Ishikawa
actuation, and manipulation. I feltthat overall processing, not just processing in a standalone
system, but networked processing like that in FIELD system, or
how processing is linked with already acquired data, enteredinto a new level. FANUC has also made large advancements inbroadening the existing range of manipulation and actuation
through its continuous efforts. My remarks center on sensing.
I got the impression that sensing is increasingly evolving, notonly for FANUC ROBOTs, but across all FANUC products. In
particular, it became clear that the ability to precisely capture
the real, physical world, plays an important role in improving
the functionality of the entire system. This year’s Open House
introduced the 3D sensor in which I am particularly interested
within the area of sensing. Although sensors already existed,
the lineup was enlarged and in particular, close range 3D
information can now be accurately captured. This means that
FANUC has managed to develop sensors that have the speci�ications that everyone was looking for, and is an indication that
sensors have steadily evolved. However, there are admittedly
many competitors in the 3D sensor area. Many different groups
have conducted development not only for robots but also forthe human interface, and in relation to how to take 3D images
from a drone or how to capture the �low of people in society. I
hope that FANUC will stay focused on its target speci�ications
and functions during development. I believe that reliability andease of use are features which FANUC should prioritize.
I also saw a demonstration using 3D CAD data. What many
people have expected and hoped for is also steadily becoming areality in this demonstration. Bin-picking was matched with
CAD data to accurately determine the gripping position andpick up the workpiece, which was impossible in the past. It isgreat that these processes can be executed reliably.
In fact, this is not limited to CAD data. CAD data can be used, butdata measured actually can be used in place of CAD data. I
would like you to keep in mind that measured data can bematched to perform many different tasks.
Regarding the application of visual feedback, two-dimensional
visual feedback was used to attach moving tires in anotherdemonstration. I think this is a large step forward even if thedemonstration was very simple. Some viewers might havethought: “This is nothing special. It is just attaching normal
tires.” However, performing this task with vision sensors only

20

without using encoder information is a key point. I tried to �inda good analogy. The conventional robot was like a child who juststarted riding a bicycle with training wheels. The new one islike a child who safely rides the bicycle without training wheels,checking the surroundings with his or her own eyes. In the past,
the absolute coordinate system was used to operate the robot
and calculation consisted mainly of coordinate conversion. The
robot can now smoothly operate without using an encoder,which suggests that control, or maybe just part of it, has shiftedfrom coordinate conversion in an absolute coordinate system toa relative coordinate system. If the robot can operate with theprecision achieved under relative coordinate system control,
the vision sensor will also have the precision of this control.
This is a big advancement. I hope you raise this “child,” who can
now ride the bicycle alone, until he or she can participate in aroad race.
Also, I would like to add my comments about collaborative
robots to what the other professors have said regarding
sensors. I suspect that collaborative robots now operate mainly
by using force sensors. If force sensors are used, however, there
is a problem of the robot not stopping until it comes into
contact with an object. Replacing these force sensors withvision sensors, or at least proximity sensors or others, will
present a challenge. With vision and proximity sensors, it isdif�icult to cover the whole �ield of view, that is, create a system
without blind spots. If this can be achieved with your ingenuity,
the robot will be able to stop before coming into contact withsomething.
Speaking of the effects of including vision or other sensors,
FANUC had a demonstration which showed that visual feedback
would allow the robot to check and recognize the gripping
position without stopping. This is a phenomenal advancementin spite of how casually it was explained. I have also repeatedly
insisted on the importance of stopping neither the robot nor theobject at these talks. Now that you succeeded in creating asystem that can properly recognize objects without stopping
the robot, I hope that you will continue advancing in thisdirection. It is important to carry out tasks without stopping therobot or workpiece to increase speed in factories in the future.
In other words, the world that people see is limited to the �ieldof vision that enters our eyes. The �ield of vision that is perceptible to a machine’s eyes is broader than that. Let us operate arobot with the �ield of vision of a machine. This would allow
FANUC to realize a world in which the robot can be moved
based on how the machine’s eyes see.. I would like you to makefurther progress with sensing and perform optimal control after
reliably collecting information from the real, physical world, todevelop more functions than ever. This could be the basic
concept of not only FANUC ROBOTs but all FANUC products. I
look forward to your further growth.
That is all from me.

FANUC NEWS

President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Ishikawa. General
Manager Inaba, please comment on what Professor Sakuma andProfessor Ishikawa talked about.

K. Inaba: Thank you for yourcomments, Professor Sakuma,
Professor Ishikawa. Your views on thecollaborative robot, sensing, andsimulation were very interesting.
Although we focused on ease of use at
this Open House, I will narrow down
what I would like to say to ease ofteaching because it is closely related
to these three technologies. Professor
K. Inaba
Ishikawa referred to visual feedback
as being a large step forward. We achieved the �irst step to havethe robot follow and work on an object moving relative to therobot through control using vision sensor data. In addition, theshape capturing path generation package used in QSSR alsoutilizes vision sensor data. The real-world information captured
through vision sensors is re�lected in simulations to integrate
the real world and the simulation as Professor Sakuma said.
After this, operation commands generated in the simulation are
returned to the real world. If I may quote Professor Higuchi, weare enabling “the interaction between the real world and thesimulation world” bit by bit.
I have realized that through these digital technologies, robots
are shifting from the stage of repetitive operations in anenvironment predetermined to some extent, to a stage where
they generate commands according to the situation they sense.
On the other hand, we must resolve the issue of calculation
resources that Professor Shirase pointed out, to make possible
high-speed visual feedback, many types of sensor data processing, and other processing that Professor Ishikawa mentioned in
the sensing area. This issue also applies to high-speed automatic path generation. In addition, we must take into consideration
quantization errors, numerical calculation errors, and othermatters that Professor Takagi pointed out in addition tophysical model errors during simulation for advanced applications. Improvement of calculation ef�iciency is certainly an
important future challenge.
Lastly, we emphasized ease of use including applications thattake collaboration with people into account, at this Open House.
We will continue to develop products based on reliability. We
will especially endeavor to ensure reliability, while accelerating
development to quickly address changing needs. We also plan tofurther enhance robotic functions in remote maintenance tools
such as ZDT and FabriQR Contact. We want to develop robots
that combine ease of use and reliability that everyone can easily
use, and would like to request your guidance.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. This completes the part21

focused on robots.

ROBOMACHINE

President Yamaguchi: Now, let’s move on to Robomachines.
First, we would like to hear from Professor Matsumura.

Professor Matsumura: Thank you
for the introduction. I am Matsumura
from Tokyo Denki University. Thankyou very much for inviting me to theonline round-table talk today.
Because many professors havealready spoken much about Digital
Twin, FA, and general matters, I
would like to mainly comment on the
Robodrill.
First, the development of the tapping Professor Matsumura
spindle in the Robodrill caught my attention. This tapping
spindle has a function that accelerates the rotation speed morethan the standard spindle, and another function to lower inertia
to shorten the acceleration time. I think FANUC developed thistechnology to meet users’ needs for reducing the cycle time.
Looking at the spindle, this particular Robodrill seems to havespeci�ications for the middle range, and many users will get the
impression that this model is easy to use compared to othermodels of this series. Thus, applying this to machining
small-to-medium sized parts, especially automobile parts, canbe expected more than before. At the same time, FANUC also
provides high-speed speci�ications with a maximum spindle
speed of 24,000 min2. Because the maximum spindle speed of
the tapping spindle is half of that, users who use small-diametertools for �ine machining and other machining will probably
select the high-speed spindle speci�ication machines. Although
the main theme is spindle development this year, I would like
you to develop high precision and high acceleration table
feeding in the future.
Another development theme is reduction in machining time.
How to shorten the cycle time was exhibited. What is reallyinteresting is that multiple operations that can be executed
simultaneously can now be performed with a single command. I
heard that combined operations were actually already possible
in the past but was not known to many users. This means thatby being able to exchange tools and perform positioning at thesame time with a single command, the machining time isshortened. I am sure that this is one of the functions appreciated on site because it reduces the total time for parts machining
for mass production. I admire you for such innovations as I
imagine that modest though steadfast efforts were required.
I was also impressed with the automation of clamping andunclamping of DDR. I found it refreshing as I watched the video,
and thought it was certainly different. I expect further researchand development will be conducted to reduce non-machining
time as much as possible, including acceleration/decelerationof the table, although the development of control commands isalready quite advanced.
I listened to the explanation about iHMI and support for
networking beforehand, and actually saw them. It became eveneasier to include vendors’ resources, and users can now easily
connect via multifunctional Ethernet. I think this will lead to theuse of IoT and further on to the implementation of AI. I haveheard that small-to-medium-sized enterprises have a particularly hard time connecting to networks. This development
seems to have taken their hardships into consideration.
LINKi seems to currently be at the stage of monitoring thestatus of multiple machines. If FANUC analyzes the decisions
made by users in response to monitored information, and canmake proposals based on the results in the future, users willprobably want to incorporate this function.
This is a bit outside my �ield, but I also saw three options toconnect a robot with QSSR. “QSSR ON-SITE” is a function toconnect a robot to an existing machine. Users who havedif�iculty connecting a robot and do not know what to do would
really appreciate this function. I found “QSSR AUTO PATH” to bevery ambitious but I heard it does not support connection with
the Robodrill yet. I wonder how long it takes to set up a robot tobe operational using this function. If the required time is similar
to “QSSR G-CODE,” everyone would select the QSSR AUTO PATH
option if they have the budget for implementation.
Regarding FA, I saw thermal displacement compensation using
AI. The thermal displacement of machine tools is said to be anever-ending challenge. Other companies are also trying toachieve thermal displacement compensation in many different
ways. In addition to thermal displacement compensation, I havehigh hopes for how FANUC will develop monitoring andrecognition of workpieces, as well as operations in response tomonitoring and recognition in the future. I particularly lookforward to improvements in chatter vibration, machining
errors, and �inishing roughness.
AI servo tuning is also a very convenient function for workers
on site. Automatic adjustment of servo settings for high-quality
machining through machine learning is particularly groundbreaking. Although experience and knowledge are required toadjust servo parameters at a machining site, only a small
number of workers have such experience and knowledge. So,
this function is quite useful.
Overall, I think that FANUC has taken their concept of “easy touse for the purpose of providing machine tools and encouraging
their use” one step further and started to help users make fulluse of their machine tools. As I said earlier, combined operations in which the machine table moves while exchanging tools
with a single command is a good example. This idea is hard tocome up with unless you observe seasoned workers carryingout their tasks on site. In fact, whereas beginners sequentiallyperform operations one by one, seasoned workers think about
the next operation while executing their current one. Thismeans that they often perform combined operations. In thissense, the function to perform combined operations with asingle command is making it “easy to make full use of equipment” rather than just making the “equipment easy to use.”
Regarding the hot-topic “Digital Twin,” your technical development of the interface was impressive. You must consider not
only hardware but also how the machine tool will adapt tomachining phenomena as the �irst step to make full use of themachine tool. To do this, linkage with FA is probably required aswell. I hope that the linkage with FA will be even more speci�icwith the technologies you have developed.
At the same time, users are also concerned about the life time ofmachines and their components. I heard that FANUC is also
conducting lifetime tests. When it comes to a sophisticatedmachine, the user is very interested in its lifetime, failures,
recovery in case of failure, and maintenance. The user considers
these aspects before installing a machine. Therefore, manufacturers should examine how to provide information and support.
In addition, to operate facilities for mass production such as
powertrain production at automobile manufacturers, chipdisposal often becomes an issue in controlling the cutting
process. This is not about ejecting chips from chip breakers
behind the cutting edge. It is related to a secondary process todispose of chips accumulated on the table and surroundings. I
have been asked for advice by several very distressed companies that want to know how to control the position or directionof chips that remain, or whether they should break the chips,
since the accumulated chips hinder the table from rotating. It
might be time for machine tool builders to �igure out how todispose of these chips from the standpoint of experts on site
who have good knowledge and experience. Your products will
be more attractive if you use your ingenuity in designing themachining space of the machines.
Developers who work for manufacturers have also probably
heard users’ opinions, or cries for help, as the case may be. In
particular, FANUC is more advantageous in being able toprovide support for controls and using them in machine tools
than any other company, as a leader in this �ield. I look forward
to your further development.
Let me thank you again for inviting me today.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Matsumura.
General Manager Tong from the Robodrill Research & Development Division will answer your questions.

Tong: Thank you for your comments on a wide range of topics,
Professor Matsumura. Regarding the tapping spindle andreduction in cycle time, while this is not a good excuse, we havefocused on the development of the machining capabilities andquality of machined surfaces in the past. However, recently we

22

FANUC NEWShave decided to focus on light cutting
applications of automobile parts andother parts for which the cycle time isimportant. I believe that what wehave developed will help customers
improve productivity and reduce
costs, which will increase customer
satisfaction.
Regarding the ease of use of machinesthat Professor Matsumura mentioned,Tong
I agree that we have moved from thestage where customers start using our products to the stage
where they make full use of our products. We will continue tovalue users’ opinions and help more customers easily make fulluse of the Robodrill in the future. This will also lead to customer
satisfaction.
Finally, the chips that Professor Matsumura mentioned can besaid to be a never-ending challenge for machine tools. What you
said earlier gave us an idea. The direction in which chips arescattered or other factors can be controlled to some extent for
certain machining methods. We will certainly consider
controlling chip accumulation as well in the future.
Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Now, Professor Kunieda, please let us
hear your comments.

Professor Kunieda: I am Kunieda
from the University of Tokyo. The
Open House was really informative.
I mainly saw the Robocut and found it
phenomenal as the pitch precisionand circularity have already achieved
the order of one micron. Such
precision is not achievable unless you
mastered the basics from various
points of view, including thermal
Professor Kunieda
displacement compensation throughmachine learning and structure
analysis.
I have a question about this matter. I heard the explanation that
FANUC increased rigidity and reduced thermal deformation
through topology optimization, and as a result, the weightincreased by 400 kg and 500 kg. I want to know why you ended
up increasing the weight even though topology optimization
usually leads to weight reduction.
I also have a request. Adaptive control has been taken for
granted for electrical discharge machining since its invention.
Adaptive control using gap voltage waveform or discharge
current waveform is pretty common. The current signal
processing speed allows us to apply adaptive control whileobserving each waveform of electrical discharge. However, each23

waveform is not associated with a phenomenon. In other words,
it is not known what physical phenomenon of the actual
electrical discharge resulted in that waveform. If you clarify thisrelationship through basic research using visualization or othermethods, adaptive control using current and voltage waveforms
will offer even better performance.
One more thing. The tool used for wire-cut electrical dischargemachining is a very soft pliable wire. This is one of the factorsthat inhibit precision improvement. However, if you canmeasure the vibration, displacement, and deformation of thewire electrode with sensors, you can obtain various informationfrom the behavior of the wire. One example is information on
the discharge reaction force. The discharge reaction force froman electrical discharge vibrates or deforms the wire. The
discharge reaction force changes, depending on the location or
board thickness. If you can use the wire itself as a sensor bymeasuring the behavior of the wire in the process and bycombining it with an inverse problem solution, you can provide
adaptive control that is not possible just with current andvoltage waveforms.
In addition, the detection of the position of electrical discharge,
or where electrical discharge occurs has not been put topractical use for a long time. However, as overseas manufacturers have already included this function in machine tools, thetrend to use the position of electrical discharge for manydifferent purposes is becoming evident. I ask you to consider
this as well.
In addition, the wire’s behavior is very loose. It is similar tousing the enveloping surface of a caterpillar that vibrates anddeforms, for machining. The posture and form of the caterpillar
changes as the diameter changes. If this can be simulated,precision will increase. Although this would require muchtedious and steady basic research, I would like to ask that you
make progress in this direction.
Lastly, there does not seem to be much theoretical research on
dielectric �luids. Water and oil obviously lead to different
machining results. However, the reason for this has not beenfound. Although an additive may be added as an intermediate
dielectric �luid in some cases based on experience, machining
characteristics completely change even with the same water if
the conductivity is changed. The reason for this has not beenclari�ied yet either. By �inding the reason based on physics, I
believe it would be possible to develop a dielectric �luid.
That is all from me. Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Kunieda. Now, we
would like to hear from General Manager Fujimoto, who
supervises the research and development of the Robocut.
Fujimoto: Professor Kunieda, thank you for always supporting
us in various ways with regard to clarifying electrical discharge
phenomena.

First, I would like to answer yourquestion about why the weightincreased as a result of topology
optimization, which addresses asimilar question from Professor
Hideki Aoyama earlier in the FA
section. We needed a very thickmachine with a solid structure forthis new model to reduce thermal
displacement and increase machining
Fujimoto
precision compared with previous
models. Therefore, we could not avoid signi�icantly increasing
the weight. Given these circumstances, we used topology
optimization to select which cast parts should be left thick tomaintain its effectiveness. Although topology optimization isnormally often used for weight reduction, we used it to ensuresuf�icient thickness to attain enough strength and increase
rigidity and thermal stability. As a result, we were able to limit
the weight increase to 400 kg in the smaller model and 500 kg
in the larger model.
In addition, as Professor Aoyama said, topology optimization
may give way to a form that is dif�icult to manufacture bycasting. We used topology optimization to identify wheresuf�icient thickness should be retained rather than to reduce
the weight to the minimum. In this sense, casting design was
relatively easy.
I would also like to express my appreciation for the continuous
support of Professor Kunieda for the simulation of wire
behavior. We must investigate many different aspects of theelectrical discharge phenomena in addition to the force applied
to the wire, especially for the simulation of the wire behavior
that we are currently conducting. As for the effects of dielectric�luid that Professor Kunieda mentioned earlier, we have notsuf�iciently understood them yet. So, we would like to steadily
conduct basic research while asking for your advice. We
appreciate your continuous help.
President: Thank you. Now, Professor Shamoto, please shareyour comments.

Professor Shamoto: I am Shamoto
from Nagoya University. Thank you
for inviting me to this round-table
talk again. Because this is an online
talk, I prepared slides thinking thatsharing materials would be easier tounderstand.
First, I am going to make somecomments on the Robonano, which
was assigned to me. The �irst topic is
Professor Shamoto
precise control of hydraulic pressure.
As this graph shows, this technology precisely controls thehydraulic pressure for the hydrostatic guide to suppress�luctuation. This is a great technological development even if it
seems bland at a glance. Ultra-precision is achieved as a resultof accumulating and combining many different technologies,
such as those for suppressing �luctuation in peripheral equipment and the environment, and requires much perseverance. Itis great that FANUC succeeded in highly stabilizing such�luctuations in peripheral equipment, which was left toperipheral equipment manufacturers in the past, with servo
technology, which is your area of expertise. We have no choice
but to cumulatively improve these peripheral technologies one
by one to re�ine the precision. I hope that FANUC will continue
such development of peripheral equipment as well as theRobonano, including the oil pressure and temperature, ambient
temperature, the pressure and temperature of compressed air,and coolant, in the future.
The second thing that caught my attention is the Smart M-Formtechnology. This is a contact-type on-machine measurement
device that measures the machined surface to compensate form
errors. Although the technology itself is not especially new,there is value in integrating it with an NC. In particular, the timerequired for ultra-precision machining and �ine processing islong, and other processes such as measurement and setup tend
to be time consuming as well. Therefore, it is critical to improvetheir ef�iciency.
I also would like to talk about the development of Smart
M-Setup which allows operation of many different on-machinemeasurement units for Robonano. This is also great in that it
contributes to reducing labor for setup. However, I understandthat Smart M-Setup is still at a stage in which conventional
on-machine measurement devices use conventional methods.
So, this cannot be said to be a major advancement. I hope that
FANUC will further pursue technological developments in thisdirection in the future. Recently, it seems that research anddevelopment have not advanced much in the �ield of setup, eventhough setup is important. We will also continue research, andwould appreciate your advice.
Next, let me talk about the Robodrill. This slide shows ademonstration of machining steel using a spindle with a hightorque. The trend of machining steel with a compact machine
like this is on the rise. In the past, compact machines weremainly used for machining aluminum, but recently I havepersonally seen such compact machines used for machining
steel in multiple companies. These companies all face theproblem of chatter, though this is only natural. Chatter seems toincrease when a compact machine with low rigidity is aggressively used to machine steel. Chatter has long been an issue forall machine tools. I believe that there are still other ways toeliminate chatter using NCs such as the technique of adjusting
the spindle speed or identifying appropriate parameters. I hopethat FANUC will continue to make advancements in suchtechnologies.

24

FANUC NEWS

That is all from me. Thank you.

President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Shamoto. Next,
Professor Omori, please tell us what you thought.

Professor Omori: Thank you forinviting me to this year’s online OpenHouse and round-table talk. I saw theOpen House and technical documents
and would like to comment on
matters related to the Robonano.
First, I am really glad to hear that you
have announced the turning type
Robonano. Many of the companies I
work with are lens manufacturers
Professor Omori
that produce lens molds and use
turning type machines frequently. I often used to hear that they
were wondering when a turning type Robonano would be
released. I heard that you will be launching a 0.1-nano turning
type Robonano now and look forward to seeing just how highits precision actually is.
By the way, although the photos of the 5-axis type Robonano
and the turning type Robonano were posted side by side, I
wondered why the 5-axis type Robonano has the screen on theright whereas the turning type Robonano has the screen on theleft. So, I looked at all the ultra-precision lathes in the laboratory and found that they all have the spindle and screen on theleft. This is probably because setup is assumed to be performed
with the right hand. When I visit customers’ factories, however,surprisingly the screen is placed on the right even with anultra-precision lathe, and is separated from the machine atsome factories. In light of this, you may want to consider amodel which can be separated with the screen on the rightupon customers’ requests. I recommend asking customers fortheir opinions and taking these into consideration before
launching the turning type Robonano in the future.
“High machining performance,” “minimizing downtime,” and“ease of use” are common keywords for Robomachines. Looking
at the “ease of use” exhibit, “AI” and “machine learning” were
written above it. Actually, I started research and conductedanalyses on the effects of machine learning during machining,
and its performance and machining phenomenon a few years
ago. Speci�ically, I am researching machine learning for
grinding. I received requests from many different companies
that want to automatically determine when the sharpness of thegrinding wheel will change or when it has changed. I am
carrying out this research to help solve this problem. The �irst
issue is the machining load. As a grinder is a rotary tool, thequick way is to monitor the load, power consumption, andtorque of the spindle to know the status. Another way is tomonitor vibration during machining. I noticed that machining
status can clearly be understood just with these two input

25

values. Furthermore, more detailed phenomena information
can be acquired by dividing the grinding resistance into anormal component force and a tangential component force andanalyzing these features. Cutting marks, that is, how they
appear on machined surfaces, is a problem especially in turning
type models. Since quite a high level of quality is required,knowledge of the machining phenomena will become more
important. I also believe machine learning will be important for
the Robonano to make full use of 0.1-nano command values.
Professor Shamoto also mentioned on-machine measurement
devices earlier. I have also studied on-machine measurement
for a long time. According to the documentation, the measurement resolution is 0.1 nm and the Robonano also uses 0.1 nm
command. In the era of 0.1 nm machining and control, measurement requires higher resolution such as one order of magnitude
higher. Although Professor Kuriyagawa may comment on thislater, this is the area of pico processing or pico technology. You
should think about the maximum level of measurement
resolution that will be required, along with the extent you will
pursue the machining precision of the Robonano in the future,
though you may �ind you are stepping into the quantum realm.
In fact, companies to which I give advice are now asking formachining precision for lens molds that is one order of magnitude higher than the level we discussed just a few years ago.
Now that we are actually in that era, I have high expectations
for the future of the Robonano including the purposes for whichmeasurement resolution and machining resolution will be
pursued. I think this will introduce research themes andpractical technological opportunities.
Lastly, you can start compensated machining without removing
or attaching a workpiece during on-machine measurement.
This is a great bene�it. On the other hand, the reality is thatmany customers use data measured by external dedicatedmetrology systems for compensated machining. In such cases,
workpieces need to be accurately removed and attached, butwhat is more, additional support may be required to transmit
data measured externally to the Robonano, such as the datatransfer method or communication protocol. This will dependon the customer. I recommend that you consider compatibility
with external measurements as part of future usability.
That is all from me. Thank you.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Omori. Now, we
would like to hear from General Manager Hong from theRobonano Research & Development Division about the advice
from Professor Shamoto and Professor Omori.

Hong: I am Hong. Thank you for your advice and comments on
a wide range of topics.
First, we should have worked on the servo control of hydraulicpressure exhibited this year that Professor Shamoto mentioned,from the beginning. As Professor Shamoto said, the accumula-tion of each factor, including how tocontrol peripheral equipment andhow to suppress disturbances, willlead to errors during ultra-precision
machining. We developed the servo
control after truly realizing that wecannot advance to the next step
without working on servo control.
Professor Shamoto has asked us about
the range of applications and the
Hongextent of effectiveness of theseapplications. Among recent experiments, the best example toanswer this question is diffraction grating. When several
hundred thousand grooves were machined over dozens ofhours, there was movement of slightly less than 30 nanos if thetemperature changed by about 0.1°. This movement appeared
as one line in the diffraction grating. This line no longer appears
because robustness increased as a result of servo control.
As for the targets related to the Robonano, we are looking into
disturbance suppression as mentioned, stabilization throughperipheral equipment control, and ease of use, and are now
focusing on on-machine measurement and the setup facilitation
function.
As Professor Shamoto and Professor Omori commented on
on-machine measurement, this is critical to the automation ofultra-precision machining and measurement. However,0.01-nano measurement is required as Professor Omori said.
This is the golden rule of ultra-precision machining andmachining measurement in the true sense, and we would like to
set it as a future challenge. We have also strongly felt thedemand for compatibility with external measurements at recent
business meetings and we appreciate your very practical advice.
As for the position of the operation screen that Professor Omori
pointed out, the members of the Robonano Research & Development Division thought long and hard about whether weshould attach an integrated screen on the left of the machine orprovide a separate screen. We made a decision after internallyconsidering many different aspects, but we have not fullyveri�ied it from a users’ standpoint. We will consider the
separate console that Professor Omori suggested and otheroptions, listening to users’ opinions in the future.
Professor Shamoto and Professor Omori have always advised
us. We would like you to help us solve small problems inultra-precision machining one by one to further increase
precision in machining and provide ease of use.
That is all from me.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you. Professor Kuriyagawa,please share your comments.

Professor Kuriyagawa: I am Kuriyagawa from Tohoku
University. I moved back to the Graduate School of Engineering

which was my former work place,from the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering last April. Now, I workfor the Division of MechanicalEngineering in the Graduate School ofEngineering. Thank you for inviting
me to this round-table talk. I obtained
very valuable information at theonline Open House. Swipe Video wasused for the presentations, and thisProfessor Kuriyagawa
was the �irst time for me to use it. I
found it to be very simple and effective. I am really grateful.
As for the Robonano, I was also interested in the contact-type
on-machine measurement device as Professor Omori alsomentioned earlier. Although this device can of course quickly
measure the cross-section surface, the whole surface needs tobe measured in many cases in reality, because non-axisymmetric error patterns may appear on the axisymmetric aspherical
optical lens. Development of a noncontact-type measurement
method is required to measure the whole surface at maximum
speed. I have developed a method for the 1 nm level, but 0.1 nm
is quite dif�icult, as expected. So, I have high hopes for FANUC’s
development capabilities.
I specialize in grinding like Professor Omori. I started studying
grinding in the 1980s with creep feed grinding for jet engine
turbine blades. The purpose was high-ef�iciency machining tomass-produce parts made of a material dif�icult to grind. Then, I
did research on ultra-precision grinding, nano precision, andpico precision machining that Professor Omori mentioned
earlier, since the 1990s for high precision and high quality
machining. Although the evolution and development of
hardware has been vital to my research, I have recently becomeaware just how critical software development is if one is tomake full use of the hardware.
Professor Asama talked about Digital Triplet that is to follow
Digital Twin. I would like FANUC to complete and realize theoptimal placement of machine tools, the safety of workers,
comfort, and even the achievement of a feeling of happinessthat Professor Asama mentioned.
On the other hand, we must de�initely solve issues related torecycling and reuse, to use old products as resources in addition
to production and full utilization of products. That is why I
really hope that FANUC will propose a direction forrecycling-style manufacturing.
About nano precision and pico precision, I think form creation
machining will not be suf�icient in the future. In other words,
we will need to add functionality to the product surface or the
crystal structure below the surface. It will be important tocreate higher-value added products through this process. For
example, the surface structure can now be easily controlled
through machining. I would really appreciate it if you conducted
development bearing new technologies in mind. These technol-

26

FANUC NEWSogies include control of internal crystal structure, control ofvacancy in the material to change the mechanical characteristics of the whole material, giving direction to the characteristics
change, and the technology needed to create multi-material
structures that contain many different materials.
As for customers who buy these products, a product thatprovides machining with nano precision or pico precision canbe used to some extent in the semiconductor �ield. For example,
I am sure that machining is useful for the interlayer dielectric�ilms in recently developed stacked ICs with 100 or 200 layers. I
have the feeling that machining with such precision has plentyof potential to be applied in such a �ield.
Let me thank you again for inviting me today. This is all fromme.

President Yamaguchi: Thank you, Professor Kuriyagawa. Now,
General Manager Uchida, do you have anything to add?

Uchida: I am Uchida. Thank you verymuch for your valuable opinions fromvarious angles. I would like tocomment on Digital Twin, which was
the most talked about subject today,
including Robomachine. Although
General Manager Noda has alreadydescribed our current efforts, I would
like to take a step further and explain
our future direction.
UchidaAlthough one of the catchphrases forthis year’s online Open House is “Digital Twin with FANUC CNC,”
we were asked by Chairman Inaba in advance to change this to“Digital Twin by FANUC.” So, we plan to use the uni�ied concept,“Digital, Real & Connecting” for FANUC as a whole next year,
apart from whether Digital Twin is a suitable term.
“Digital and real” or “cyber and physical” are often used thesedays. But, a young general manager in our CNC-related department said, “It would be better to add ‘connecting’ as well.” This
makes sense. Conducting simulation and actual machining andmeasurement without linking them is almost meaningless. It is
important to share data and information as needed between
them. As a result, we decided to include the concept of“connecting” in the end, and adopted “Digital, Real & Connecting” as the concept that shows the direction of FANUC. This issomething like “Dynamic Digital Twin” if I were to borrow theword “dynamic” from Professor Shinno. However, many of you
seem to be unsatis�ied with the term “Digital Twin.” We will try
to �ind better wording in the future.
If someone were to ask me what the core of FANUC’s Digital
Twin is, I would have to say that it is servo technology. When
our CNC competitors use the word, “Digital Twin,” most systems
only cover CAM and CNC and do not contain most of thesubsequent servo system and actual machining, even though27

the term, “twin” is used. So, we would like to further strengthen
the servo system for differentiation in FANUC’s Digital Twin
concept. Fortunately, FANUC has been providing a powerful tool
named SERVO GUIDE to collect servo behavior for over twenty
years now and has recently taken it a step further. We plan toinclude all information including CAD data, CNC simulation
results, measurement results from the on-machine measurement devices, and measurement results from external measurement instruments in the SERVO GUIDE in the next-generation
CNC. We want to create various kinds of added value by
consolidating different kinds of machining data in SERVOGUIDE.
After hearing this, the professors who attended today willprobably say, “That’s �ine for the servos, but what about thetools?” Unfortunately, FANUC is a heavy tool user, but it does nothave a tool development department. I think this is one of ourweak points. Therefore, we would like to complete FANUC’sconcept by receiving various insights from professors on
tool-related simulation and capturing behavior to �ill the gap inwhat FANUC is missing.
Thank you for attending this round-table talk today.
President Yamaguchi: Thank you.
Summary

President Yamaguchi: Finally, we would like to ask Professor
Tojiro Aoyama to comment on the Open House as a whole.
Professor, if you would.

Professor T. Aoyama: Thank you forinviting me to this round-table talk
today. I also saw your online OpenHouse. As Professor Higuchi said atthe beginning, I was able to understand the �low of this online OpenHouse very well by �irst listening to
the seminars and then seeing
individual exhibits. Because the otherprofessors also took time to see
Professor T. Aoyama
individual exhibits including seminars
in advance, today we were able to have numerous discussions,perhaps more varied than President Yamaguchi expected.
However, we were not able to feel the impact of high load
cutting, the vibrations, the sounds, get a sense of scale in three
dimension, and other aspects of the Robodrill that we could
experience by being on site. Therefore, I suggest that you �igureout a good way to combine them.
I was particularly interested in the Robonano and collaborative
robot. The “green robot” exhibited two years ago has gradually
evolved. By seeing this year’s exhibits, I got the impression thatthe development of the collaborative robot has advanced andstarted in full swing. Hearing the other professors such as
Professor Sugano talking about tomato harvesting, Professor
Sakuma talking about the medical �ield, and the soft gripper, I
think that FANUC will be able to target new customers in �ields
that you have not focused on so far, by combining your collaborative robot and these technologies. Professor Kuriyagawa said
earlier that FANUC will have a wider range of customers and I
also felt that the target market, or the breadth of targets, will
expand further even if the main customers remain machine toolbuilders.
Although FANUC manufactures and provides products tosociety, I think that FANUC will put more focus on how society
functions, how their products are accepted in society, and how
collaboration between industry and university professors inacademia link with society to contribute to new manufacturingin the future.
I saw face-to-face ACADEMY Training Courses in FANUC
ACADEMY and eACADEMY online. FANUC also provides training
online by combining on-demand and real-time live seminars.
Universities suddenly started providing education online in thespring semester of 2020. Everyone in academia says that the old
education style will not come back even after the COVID-19
pandemic subsides. I think universities are working on enhancing online and face-to-face real education, but each university
has its own way of thinking about how to go about it. FANUC isalready providing online training in full force. It would be
wonderful if FANUC ACADEMY shared problems, requests from
attendees, good points, and other information on online andface-to-face courses with the academic world, so that we canthink about how to effectively structure hybrid educationconsisting of online and face-to-face classes to develop humanresources. I am also very interested in training lecturers on
online courses. Universities can learn a lot from FANUC

ACADEMY.
In addition, I assume that FANUC, as a global company, willcommunicate its approach to carbon neutrality as needed
through various media. I would like you to also exchange
opinions on this matter with academia.
Thank you very much for organizing this online round-table
talk today. Please allow me to thank Chairman Inaba, President
Yamaguchi, and other FANUC members again on behalf ofacademia.
Various opinions and comments were presented from membersof academia today. I hope that FANUC will �ind them informative
and that FANUC and academia will develop together. I am
looking forward to working with you in the future. Thank you
everyone.

Insects become more audible as the heat of summer wanes.
The thick forest of FANUC is full of �lowers and berries that
add color to our short summer. This section introducessome small, yet beautiful �lowers that modestly appear
between the shadows of the deep green.

Four Seasons of FANUC

President Yamaguchi: Thank you for your warm comment,
Professor Aoyama. Thank you everyone for taking time fromyour busy schedules to attend this long meeting. I also appreciate that you took the time to see the Open House before
attending the round-table talk today. We are grateful for yourvaluable advice. You can view the online Open House for as longas you wish and see it repeatedly. These are advantages ofholding an Open House online. However, we must admit theonline Open House also has its disadvantages. To be precise, it is
not interactive and visitors cannot ask questions. I hope that wewill be able to hold a physical Open House next year, and also around-table talk, inviting all the professors to one place, if
possible. However, I think that some of you may not be able tocome in person because of your schedule. In such a case, we willconsider asking those professors to attend online. Thank you
again for getting together today despite being very busy. We will
adjourn the meeting.
Thank you.

Vicia amoena

Kirengeshoma palmata
Adenophora triphylla28

FANUC Factory Introduction

FANUC NEWS

Manufacturing of Roboshot base frames
The base frames of the Roboshot, which directly affect themachine’s precision, are manufactured in FANUC’s Roboshot
factory. Base frames are large parts, with a maximum length of
6 meters and weight of 2 tons. Base frames are manufactured
in four major processes.
In the �irst process, tapping is performed on column parts. In
the second process, columns after tapping and other parts are
welded together. The top surface of the base frame ismachined in the third process, and in the �inal fourth process,the base frame is painted. We have automated these processes
using robots for high quality and high productivity.
In the column machining process, a robot detects steel
material on the pallet with a vision sensor and loads it to a
Robodrill.

In the welding process, two welding robots detect the positionof the base frame with touch sensing to weld parts accurately.
The base frame is mounted on the turnover device driven by
the servo motor and the orientation of the base is freelychanged to weld all surfaces.

29

In the top surface machining process, a super heavy payload
robot with a payload of 2.3 tons checks the base frame takenout of the automated warehouse with its vision sensor, andsets it up on the machining jigs of a gantry milling machine.
By changing the robot hand, jigs can be exchanged asnecessary when the model is changed. As such, 24-hourcontinuous unmanned machining of base frames is possible.
In the painting process, two paint robots on rails detect theposition of the base frame to achieve high-quality painting.

Each of the welding, machining, and painting processes areconnected to a large automatic warehouse. The automatic
warehouse is used as a transport device to reduce logistics
work.
In addition, all robots and machine tools are connected to a
network. FIELD system collects and analyzes information to
improve productivity and quality.
Robots are used to produce base frames to achieve the highprecision and high quality of the Roboshot.

Column machining process(The robot supplies column checkedwith vision sensors to the ROBODRILL.)

Welding process(Two robots weld the baseframe on the turnover device.)

Top surface machining process(The super heavy payload robot sets thebase frame up on the machining jig.)

Pain�ng process(Two robots give the baseframe a high-quality paint job.)

FANUC’s History Series 2“Electric/Hydraulic Pressure Pulse Motor”

Developed and patented in 1959. This motor developed by

FANUC’s founder, Dr. Seiuemon Inaba, can be said to be theorigin of FANUC.

With the unique built-in hydraulic pressure control mechanism, the hydraulic pressure motor with a large torquefollows the movement of the input electric pulse motor. The
motor enables stable high-precision operation with simple
open loop control and was used for axis feeding in many
machine tools.

FANUC NEWS 2021- Ⅱ

FANUC CORPORATION

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Phone: (+81) 555-84-5555
Fax: (+81) 555-84-5512
Person in charge of publishing:
Shunsuke Matsubara, General Manager, Research & Development Promotion / Support Division

No part of this publication may be reproduced or duplicated without permission.
©FANUC CORPORATION February 2022