Latest Japan publications

Japanese manufacturing giant Hitachi has teamed up with a German research institute to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) technology which can recognise workers’ actions in real-time using data collected through wearable devices. Hitachi partnered with a team of Smart Data & Knowledge engineers from the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) to create an… Read More

Swarms of bio-inspired drones could be called upon to help fertilise wildflowers and crops, as the natural bee population teeters onto the list of endangered species. Around 70% of global crops rely on cross-pollination by bees and other insects. But climate change and a rise in pesticides among other factors have led to an alarming decline in… Read More

Sony has warned that it will mark a 112.1bn yen (approx. £782mn) write-down on the value of its film business, blaming poor returns at the box office and a faster-than-expected decline in DVD and home entertainment sales. Despite the goodwill charge, the Japanese firm confirmed that it had no plans to sell its movie and… Read More

Huawei has announced a significant breakthrough in heat-resistant, long-life Lithium Ion (Li-on) battery technology, with a new prototype that can remain functional at environmental conditions up to 60°C (10°C higher than previously attained in Li-on research), with the promise of notably extended battery life for IoT-based field packs. The global telecommunications and networking company, based… Read More

Multi-national tech conglomerate Hitachi has announced the launch of an open laboratory for customer prototyping in Japan. The operation, which begins next month, and is a collaboration with the Yokohama Research Laboratory, will comprise of five laboratories, each specialising in a specific business area. The primary Monozukuri* Open Automation launch begins in December, exploring environments… Read More