Tmsuk is a robot manufacturer based in Kita-Kyushu, a large provincial city. It’s a company that has been on the forefront of robot technology for years. PingMag MAKE paid a visit to president Yoichi Takamoto in his modest headquarters building. We talked about his perspective on what matters in robot research and development, and how important a simple basic concept can be to product marketability.
Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka
Banryu robots just hanging around
Robolia robots lined up in the warehouse
Perhaps one of the unique things about Tmsuk’s robots is that they are so practical, and that they’re made from a business perspective…
Tmsuk is a business after all, so first and foremost, we have to think about sales. That’s why we limit ourselves to creating practical robots. If robots aren’t useful in regular people’s daily lives, consumers just won’t spend the money. Lots of manufacturers are making robots that can walk on two legs, dance, conduct orchestras and all that, but at Tmsuk we use robot technology for a different goal. At Tmsuk, being able to sell the product is the most important thing.
I see. How about you, President Takamoto, did you have a fascination with robots as a young boy?
Sorry, but I didn’t. Even my university major had nothing to do with robots. I majored in law. Actually, I was really fascinated with archaeology. Back then, I was always going on digs. Even when I went to my job interviews after graduation, I showed up in jeans and geta. The place that finally gave me a job was a forklift manufacturer.
A forklift manufacturer! That seems like a long way from a robot.
I was in charge of production management and sales, and I spent my days running around to dealerships and making sales calls. It had nothing to do with robots; nothing to do with research and development even. But then as I was doing this, I was called upon to take over the family business, Takamoto Shokai. That company made automobile components for the most part. But, as a small-to-medium sized company, the competition was really stiff. In order to keep afloat, I figured we had to come up with something new.
What did you come up with?
The first thing we made that I was involved with was a belt conveyer for trawlers. It washes the fish, takes off the scales, cuts the fish into fillets, and can even make the fish into paste. We used the same conveyor and adapted it for making frozen foods like udon and yaki onigiri. We had to quickly adapt to the times just to stay in business.
So, you were already in a commercial, or a business frame of mind, then.
I think it was really just a matter of trying to survive as a small-to-medium-sized business based in a provincial area (laughs). We’d act on something as soon as we thought of it.
You still haven’t gotten to the part of the story where the robot comes in.
We got into making robots after we got the patent for a conveyor where the belt can be easily installed and removed. Right then, as luck would have it, the food safety regulations got tightened up a lot, and our conveyor became a hit. With the money we made, we developed the robot receptionist for our company.
So now we’ve gotten to the part about the robot, but why did you suddenly decide to develop one?
We were already thinking along the lines of “doing things that people can’t do”, and we figured “well, it will be good publicity” and we wanted to give the message, “our company has this much technical ingenuity” so we gave it a shot. Now that I think of it, it was a kind of extension of factory automation. That was TMSUK-1. We went public with it just when companies like Sony and Honda had started getting into robot development, so we were a ways ahead of the crowd.
You were quite advanced for the time, weren’t you.
That’s because we spent several billion yen of the company’s money on it (laughs). Within the company, some people felt we had already blown enough money on robots and we shouldn’t spend any more. So, we were actually thinking of putting the robot thing aside. But the prefectural government and our business connections said “We’ll support you, please keep up the development”.
The commercially available robot, Banryu.
Customers can also choose a color.
But if they say that, it’s a tough position to be in, isn’t it?
Yes. That’s why at first I wanted to avoid it all and I had no plans of forming a new company. But just then, my wife, who is from Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma Prefecture, decided she couldn’t take care of her parents if she lived in Kita-Kyushu. She said “I’m moving back home”. And she told me, “If you’re going to be in the machines business, make things that will be useful for people” so I decided, “Well, OK, I’ll make a robot that can be operated at long distances via a mobile phone network.” And with that thought, I went to work developing it. That was TMSUK-3 and -4. I really planned on stopping at number four. But, what would you know, an investor came along and now we’re still developing robots.
That’s where the history of Tmsuk really begins, isn’t it.
I don’t know if it’ll become an industry. But what I do know is that robot development is really fun and interesting. I’m in the machines business, and I know that there are certain things that only a robot can do.
OK, so what sorts of things can only be done by a robot?
Dangerous things, things that humans can’t do. At Tmsuk, the concept that humans must control what the robot does is at the axis of our development process. The keyword is not “Artificial Intelligence” but “Remote Control”. Humans can do the thinking, and use the robot to do the physical work. That way, a human can move something from halfway around the world that weighs a ton. Our rescue robot, our security robot - at the base of them all, humans are behind the machines.
The practical and realistic Tmsuk robots are all based on very easily understood concepts, aren’t they.
Our company is directly connected with consumers, as it is a robot general sales company. If you work at things from the perspective of “sales” then it naturally the product ends up becoming very easy to understand. But I think it will take a little while longer before robotics becomes an industry unto itself. Especially here in Japan, we’ve spent years playing the game of catch-up when it comes to business, so if there isn’t a previous example of something, it’s hard for people to move forward. So we’re thinking we have to first perform well overseas. That’s our plan.
Tmsuk
1-7-8, Kimachi, Kokura Kita-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka
Yoichi Takamoto
Born in 1956 in Kitakyushu. Tmsuk founder.
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PingMag MAKE is the sister site to PingMag. We use an interview format to put the spotlight on a wide range of people active in rural areas. We document the voices of these unknown heroes and broadcast them to the world. It’s the Japan-based magazine about people and making things, coming out once a week. We’re passing on the passion, ideas, skills, and life stories of people who are building today and exploring tomorrow: craftsmen, engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Stay tuned!
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a robot company!
how cool is that!
Like a company that will only show up in a movie or cartoon..
Posted by: shibo on March 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
like your own personal mars rover.
I want a robot that will go shopping for me. Perhaps it should have a certain degree of autonomy, like the ability to cross the street by itself and to avoid collisions with other vehicles and people. Also I want 3d vision, stereo “ears”, and telescoping body parts for working at various heights. Tactile feedback would be nice for manipulating objects, too!
Thank You…
Posted by: glenn on April 4th, 2008 at 4:58 am
japan is always cool!
Posted by: mao lee on May 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm