Our laboratory has achieved a successful campaign at the World Robot Summit (WRS) 2018 and was awarded multiple prizes in the Service Robotics League:

• Our joint team with the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) and Panasonic Corporation, NAIST-RITS-Panasonic, won the 1st Place of the Future Convenience Store Challenge, Customer Interaction Task, and a cash prize of 3,000,000 JPY.
• Our joint team with the Osaka Institute of Technology (OIT), OIT Challenger & Duckers,  won the 2nd Place of Partner Robot Challenge, Real Space, and a cash prize of 3,000,000 JPY.
• And finally, our joint team with Okayama Prefectural University, eR@sers, won the 3rd Place of Partner Robot Challenge, Virtual Space, and a cash prize of 1,000,000 JPY.

We were also distinguished with the NEDO Chairman’s Award for Excellence in WRS, as well as with the Japanese Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) Award.

Thank you all for your cheering and positive vibes during the competition. We really appreciated. Please find below a message of gratitude from Dr. Lotfi El Hafi (R-GIRO Senior Researcher – Team NAIST-RITS-Panasonic Vice-Captain & Co-Founder):

“On behalf of the teams NAIST-RITS-Panasonic, OIT Challenger & Duckers, and eR@sers, I am happy to announce that we have obtained, among several prizes, the 1st Place in the Customer Interaction Task of the Future Convenience Store Challenge at the World Robot Summit 2018. In particular, NAIST-RITS-Panasonic is proud to have had the honor to represent two Japanese universities and a world-class company in this international robotics competition, as one of 24 contending teams of the Future Convenience Store Challenge. We were also distinguished with the NEDO Chairman’s Award for Excellence in WRS, as well as with the Japanese Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) Award. We would like to thank the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) for organizing such a successful event that brought us countless valuable experiences. Moreover, we would like to extend our thanks to the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), the Osaka Institute of Technology (OIT), the Okayama Prefectural University, as well as CNS and Robotics Hub of Panasonic Corporation for joining us in this amazing adventure. Without their excellent contributions and active cooperation, we could not have achieved this result. Finally, we would like to sincerely express our deepest gratitude to Prof. Tadahiro Taniguchi, Prof. Nobutaka Shimada, Prof. Takanobu Nishiura, Prof. Yuki Inoue, Prof. Naoto Iwahashi, and Prof. Tsukasa Ogasawara who are constantly guiding and supporting us in our endeavors.” -Lotfi El Hafi

For more details about WRS 2018, please click here.