OMRON EDGE&LINK Discover the future

Sowing the Seeds of New Science and Nurturing Innovation

How will our lives be changed by popularization of remote healthcare, online education, autonomous vehicles, and unmanned delivery drones? Society can be reshaped dramatically by new technologies that...

AI and Robots to Evolve in the Near Future Enabling People to Live More Human-Like Lives [Part II]

AI and robotics are two crucial fields for building a new society going forward. Although the terms for these fields have become commonplace, many of us may not know what AI actually does for us or h...

In the Near Future Where AI and Robots have Evolved, People Can Live More Human-Like Lives [Part I]

AI and robotics are two crucial fields for building a new society going forward. Although the terms for these fields have become commonplace, many of us may not know what AI actually does for us or ho...

Robots and AI That Will Support Us in the Future

Nowadays, the word AI can be heard on a daily basis. Although it has become commonplace, many of us may not know what AI actually is, or have a firm understanding of it. In this article, we will expla...

OMRON: Addressing Societal Issues Head-on with a Unique Corporate Philosophy Management

"To improve lives and contribute to a better society." These are the words of founder, Kazuma Tateishi in 1959, as codified in OMRON Corporate Motto. Since then, the company has been engaged in busine...

Are Both Business Growth and a Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Possible?

Efforts to rein in net greenhouse gas emissions to zero and bring about a carbon-free society are accelerating in nations throughout the world in a bid to prevent global warming. The japanese governme...

Enriching Communication on Smartphones and in Medical Settings

What comes to mind when you hear "character input?" It could be any information terminal, like smartphones, computers, or tablet computers, but the fact is that we enter characters on so many occasion...

AI Is Already Beside Us [Part II]

Nowadays, we often see the word AI on a daily basis. The word took wings among society, however many of us may not know what AI actually is or have a firm understanding of it. In this article, we will...

AI Is Already Beside Us [Part I]

Nowadays, we often hear the word AI on a daily basis. The word took wings among society, however many of us may not know what AI actually is or have a firm understanding of it. In this article, we wil...

Helping Amputees Live a More Fulfilling Life with Active Prosthetics

The year 2020 will be remembered for the distancing--both physically and psychologically--between companies and their employees throughout the world, as working from home became the norm in the wake o...

Thinking Together About Our Vision for the Future

On January 25, 2021, an online event "OMRON Human Renaissance Vol. 1." was held. Enhancing human creativity and potential and striving for a world of harmony between humans and machines, OMRON held th...

OMRON Taiyo : Embodying the Corporate Motto and Respect for All

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Clean Energy for the Future: How Solar Power Works

Did you know Japan is one of the countries that installation of solar power is widespread? Looking at the amount of power generated by country, Japan generates around 63 million kW*1 annually, making ...

Design to Hearten Users Produced by OMRON HEALTHCARE

Would you happen to know OMRON's digital thermometer, Kenon-kun*1? Released in 2004, Kenon-kun MC-670, featured a large LCD and a round shape, in sharp contrast to the conventional design of long and ...

Class Program Given by Doctors for Enhancing Women's Health Literacy of Adolescents

In line with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 5, "Gender equality," the formation of a gender-equal society, in which everyone can fully display their individuality and ability in any field regar...

Creative Use of CAE in the New Normal Era

Recent years have seen companies across Japan adopting digital technology to transform their services and businesses (digital transformation, or "DX"). Following the announcement in September 2020 of ...

Overcoming the "Big Business Syndrome" and Bringing Back the Ever-lasting Spirit of Venture

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Health Management That Supports the Creation of Innovation with Vitality

There is a widespread belief that in order to promote business that is useful to society, it is important to provide an environment in which all employees can enjoy their work and give the physical an...

Seeking the Ultimate Gaming Mouse for Professional Gamers

With player numbers topping 100 million globally, eSports seems to know no boundaries. By definition, eSports is a form of sport competition involving video games. As long as you have the requisite de...

"AI suitcase" for a Symbiotic Society, Bringing Together the Technologies of Five Companies

According to the WHO, the number of people with some form of visual impairment is estimated to be as high as 2.2 billion people around the world (*1). With the aim of realizing a society where the vis...

The Challenge of Establishing Health Engineering Based on Automation

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

OMRON's Technology Used in Vending Machines Across Cities

Vending machines can be found all over cities, towns and station platforms in Japan and it is now a part of Japanese people's daily lives. To operate this vending machine, do you know how many parts a...

Creating New Social Value Through OMRON's Purpose

In recent years, especially in the millennial generation, the concept of "Purpose", meaning the significance and value of the existence of organizations and companies in society is receiving a high at...

Aiming for Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050

In order to combat global warming and stabilize energy supply and demand, reduction of our energy consumption is necessary. According to the FY2018 Energy Supply and Demand Results (confirmed data rep...

OMRON's Next-generation Automation for the New Normal Era

In the new normal era caused by COVID-19, automation technology plays a greater role than ever before. There is a growing expectation for automation that allows machines to not only perform tasks to t...

"New Normal" Railway Station Services by realizing "Station Automation"

The outbreak of COVID-19 early this year has left lingering effects in every facet of our society. To prevent the spread of the virus, creating crowds around passenger support desks at train stations ...

A Little Communication Goes a Long Way to Unearth the Hidden Potential of Diverse People

In Japan, the number of persons with disabilities on the payroll of private enterprises has been growing year by year, hitting a record-high 530,000 persons in 2019*1. Yet, out of an estimated 2.06 mi...

"I'm going out for tea with my friends" using meemo, a community-based MaaS

Changes in the environment of Japan's regional cities because of a declining birthrate, aging population, stagnant local economies, and weakened local communities, have led to a movement to make local...

Developing the World's First Unmanned Train Station System to Solve a Social Issue through New Technology

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Protecting the Safety and Security of the Roads

Many sections of the expressways, the nation's main artery and critical infrastructure, are more than 50 years old, and their road surfaces and structures are deteriorating. Its maintenance is importa...

Corporate Venture Capital that collects "The World's Most Cutting-edge technologies"

OMRON believes that, to solve social issues that are becoming increasingly serious and diverse, it is important to create new business and strengthen existing businesses through open innovation that i...

Sensing as Five Senses of Machine

Sensors and sensing technology support affluent lives in every possible scene of public facilities, such as offices, factories, stations and at home. In addition, its importance increases more and mor...

One-Stop Service for Diabetic Patients in China

In China, as living standards improve, the number of diabetic patients has risen steeply to reach more than 110 million. Diabetes is a serious disease that can lead to various complications, such as l...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

From "tool-type" to "autonomous and general-purpose": Progress of AI towards a good partner for humans

The topic of AI is making headlines in the general media and business journals every day. For example, "AI will take away human jobs," "AI will streamline the diagnosis of diseases," "AI will help chi...

Our Ever-evolving Commitment to Meeting the Needs of Society: The Case of the Hotel Industry's Solution to the Challenges It Faces

The "new normal", an era of "new way of life and common sense," created by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought us a new lifestyle. One of the most familiar examples is the growing interest in "contactle...

Story Behind the Rise of the World's First FDA-Approved Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor

Essential at any medical consultation, blood pressure monitors play an indispensable role in the early detection of abnormal blood pressure. In Japan, it is estimated that 43 million*1 persons are hyp...

Now is the Time to Aim for a Symbiotic Society Where Everyone Can Smile

After an unprecedentedly short summer vacation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new term has started in Japan's schools. Among the various restrictions on school life, some schools have prohibited c...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Protecting Health and Safety by Automating Disinfection Services with UV-Equipped Mobile Robots

In the fight against COVID-19, the demand for sanitization and disinfection services is growing not only in hospitals but also places like airports, hotels, offices, and schools worldwide. However, th...

OMRON China Takes Up the Challenge: Supporting BYD, which has become one of the World's Largest Mask Manufacturers

Series list Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy OMRON C...

Promoting the Independence of the Elderly through the Spread of Long-term Care Prevention Service that Support the Health of the Elderly in the 100-year Life Era

Healthy life expectancy is an important indicator when considering QoL (Quality of Life) in the 100-year life era. This healthy life expectancy is the period of time during which people are able to li...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and look at the background to his growt...

Japan's Largest Carport Photovoltaic System by Murata Manufacturing and OMRON

In recent years, the effects of climate change, such as rising temperature and increasing torrential rains, have been observed in many places. Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, the world ...

A Big Step Towards the Future Where Machines Can Unlock Human Potential

OMRON's vision of the future of man-machine interaction is the "harmony between humans and machines", where machines bring out human abilities and creativity to the fullest extent. The table tennis ro...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

Introduction OMRON, once known as Tateisi Electronics Co. is the company that realized the world's first electronic traffic signal with fully automated sensing system, an unmanned station system with ...

Recycling Food for the Ultimate in Local Production, Local Consumption.

"Food loss" refers to the discarding of food products that are still fit for consumption. In Japan, total food loss amounts to 6.12 million tons*1 annually, or 132 grams (equivalent to one bowl of ric...

Engaging with Diversity, Helping One's Workmates: One "Busybody" Employee Transforms the Workplace

The term "diversity and inclusion" has been garnering attention in a wide variety of contexts in recent times. This term expresses the idea of organizations bringing together people of diverse backgro...

Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy

Series list Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy OMRON C...

Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project

As of June 15, 2020, more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed globally, and over 430,000 people have lost their lives to the infection. Many people have asked themselves what they c...

Supporting the Continuity of Hypertension Treatment through Telemedicine

There are reportedly around 43 million hypertension patients in Japan. This means that around one-third of Japan's population suffers from hypertension. If left untreated, hypertension can increase th...

Towards Shaping the Factory of the Future

Germany, a leading manufacturing country in EU Germany, a major European manufacturing power has developed into one of the world's prominent economic powers through fierce development of their industr...

Creating a Sustainable Society by Putting the OMRON Principles into Practice

The Sustainability of Society - An Urgent Issue The attention being paid to sustainability is increasing rapidly. According to a report issued in 2018 by the environmental preservation NGO World Wide ...

Signposts of the VUCA Era, Co-Creating Future Scenarios

We are living in the VUCA era. A time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. These FACTORS make Predicting the future is extremely difficult. OMRON, however, has used the SINIC theory ...

Disability is Part of Individuality

When a diverse base of human resources unites in spirit under the OMRON Principles to take on all challenges, it becomes possible to create innovation driven by social needs through diversity, solving...

Work in Japan

Globalizing talent, that is, diversifying talent to accelerate innovation, is a critical task facing many of Japan's companies. The call for highly-skilled international personnel in Japan has been p...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Kusatsu and Ayabe-- (Part Ⅱ)

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD Kusatsu and Ayabe" introduces OMRON Kusatsu Plant and Ayabe Plant continue to challenge to realize high-quality manufacturing similar to mass production of small varieti...

Combating counterfeit products to realize a better society in Russia

Illegal traffic of counterfeit products remains one of the major problems in Russia. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, about 58,000 people died of alcohol poisoning in the country in 2016, ...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Kusatsu and Ayabe-- (Part I)

In today's increasingly diversified consumer tastes and preferences, in the manufacturing industry, it is important to deliver fine-tuned product tailored to individual tastes. It is necessary to prep...

IXI･Innovation Platform designed to create 'innovation driven by social needs' by transcending the boundaries of business divisions

Maizuru is a city in Kyoto Prefecture with a population of about 80,000. This municipality launched a project to revitalize its community by forming a partnership with OMRON. As introduced in Part I, ...

Encouraging Woman Leaders!

For a variety of organizations the cultivating of next generation leaders is an extremely important task. It is, of course, preferable to give everyone equal opportunities in their active involvement ...

Breaking away from a manufacturing culture reliant on craftsmanship

"It was really tough to derive the right answer from something intangible." Yoshinori Inoue, an engineer at OMRON's Automation Center, who oversaw the equipment program standardization project, looks ...

A future that makes people happy through human-machine collaborations

The fifth generation FORPHEUS has abilities and behaviors that are much closer to those of a human. What kind of future will await us beyond this? Satoshi Yase, leader of the fifth generation FORPHEUS...

How close can a robot approach the behavior of a human?

FORPHEUS, the table tennis playing robot, has evolved every year, showcasing OMRON's flagship core technologies. The newest fifth generation FORPHEUS is packed with advanced technologies to enable add...

Can OMRON change a community!? Regional Revitalization Project toward 2030

OMRON recently concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement with Maizuru City in Kyoto Prefecture, a municipality with a population of about 80,000. The agreement was to initiate a project to revit...

From the Crossroads of East and West: Innovating the World's Manufacturing Industry

The Republic of Turkey is unique in that it spans two continents, Asia and Europe. In 2018, its population exceeded 80 million people. The economic growth of this nation, located at the crossroads of...

Co-creating a Smart Factory with AISIN AW

AISIN AW Co., Ltd. (AW hereafter), with its headquarters located in Aichi Prefecture, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of automobile parts. In particular, its share in the AT (automatic tr...

Experience Factory Harmony with OMRON Robots

A pioneer in factory automation, OMRON has developed many automation solutions for a diverse range of usage situations. These various solutions were on display at CES2019. OMRON's booth was divided i...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Shanghai--

OMRON Industrial Automation business envisions the creation of future manufacturing sites where humans and machines work together in harmony. Our factories also focus on productivity quality innovati...

[The Industry's First] Placing AI on the machine controller rather than in the cloud

"Achieving zero defects while saving manpower by utilizing maximum equipment functionality."In an attempt to support an "ideal factory" for a future as envisioned by people in the field of manufactur...

Helping manufacturers provide quality products to customers

Today, shelves in supermarkets around the world are full of FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods). Factories of various FMCG manufacturers are striving to provide quality products accurately and quickly t...

The Futuristic Manufacturing That Open Innovation Accelerates

From the manufacturing floor, to the personnel as well as to the method in which things are made across the board, there have been major transformations in factories in recent years that, day after da...

5th Generation FORPHEUS's First Show @CES 2019

From 8th to 11th January 2019, OMRON Corporation exhibited for the second consecutive year at CES, an annual tech event of the largest scale in the world, with more than 4,500 exhibitors from across t...

Designing a station that is safe for users of all ages

Trains are indispensable for our life. They are used for commute, shopping and travel during holidays, forming an essential part of people's everyday activities. As foreign tourists visiting Japan in...

[Technology Infographics] Futuristic Technologies for 2033

Technologies have been advancing rapidly and automation has made our life convenient. Now, the practical application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) have attracted attent...

Achieving Diversity and Inclusion in Collaboration with the Region

The 38th Oita International Wheelchair Marathon was held on November 18th. This marathon, started as the world's first international marathon exclusively for wheelchair runners, is considered as the w...

Revolutionizing the manufacturing scene with the visualization of master craftsmanship

Today, as the population ages and fewer children are born, securing a workforce and technical capabilities is a challenge faced across the entire manufacturing industry. The transfer of experts' skill...

Tackling the Food Crisis with a Borderless Collaboration

Soaring prices of vegetables has become a problem in today's world at a societal scale. Causes range from extreme weather, decline in labor force in the agricultural sector, the high prices of fuel ne...

Creating a company where everyone can be themselves

"What is it to be masculine or feminine?" In Japan's workplace, discriminatory expressions against LGBTs* still overflow in everyday conversation. To discuss workplace improvements to change this situ...

I want to broaden the potential of robotics for industrial solutions

From factories to parcel delivery services to the medical field, the opportunities in which robots are active in our lives have increased in recent years. With things like the debate over how much rob...

Helping Kyoto Pave Its Future with Photovoltaic Power Generation

In recent years, the importance of renewable energy as a countermeasure against global warming as well as transition from conventional forms of energy to alternative options are increasingly attractin...

Towards a factory in which anyone with a handicap can show what they are capable of with the help of mechanical ingenuity

OMRON has long been involved in the employment of personnel with disabilities. One of our initiatives has been the OMRON Taiyo. What distinguishes OMRON Kyoto Taiyo is not simply its role in social co...