NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Toshihiro Uchiyama) announced that it has obtained ISO 13482 certification (the only international standard for safety related to personal care robots) from Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA; Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Noriaki Kobayashi) for its LIGHBOT guide robot on March 13, 2017.

NSK has been working on the development of personal care robots in cooperation with the Kanagawa Prefecture Special Zone for Robotics Industry (the Sagami Area) and Projects for Developing Assistive Products in Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare of Japan, Kanagawa Rehabilitation Center (Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture). Now NSK has acquired safety certification to move toward putting its robot into practical use. NSK is committed to proactively addressing new market needs going forward.



On the left, Masayasu Hozumi (JQA Senior Executive Board Director & COO) and on the right, Hiroyuki Ito (Vice President and Head of New Field Products Development Center, Technology Development Division Headquarters*)
* Title at the time

Development Background

NSK developed the predecessor of the guide robot with indoor navigation and obstacle avoidance. Then, with support from Kanagawa Prefecture, NSK expanded the range of potential users from the visually-impaired to all the elderly, and performed demonstration experiments at its partner's site, the Kanagawa Rehabilitation Center. In this way, NSK has succeeded in making improvements, such as the addition of a touch panel. Also, the partnership has enabled NSK to identify the challenges to overcome and the knowledge required to achieve practical application. In bringing this developed product to market, NSK has made every effort to ensure safety from every point of view by obtaining this safety certification. This will ensure safety for users such as hospitals. In order to obtain this certification, NSK has made various improvements such as adding an emergency notification function that sends email notifications to preconfigured administrators when detecting uneven terrain or when the CALL STAFF button is pressed.

Testing to obtain certification

Safety and reliability confirmation

Envisioning actual use, NSK carried out product-level quality assurance, EMC testing,*1 durability testing, vibration testing, running stability testing, obstacle detection testing, environmental resistance testing, etc. This testing was checked by JQA, a third party.

Risk assessment

Envisioning the risks of using the robot, NSK performed a risk assessment using a scoring system. This involved working to lower items that ranked high in terms of risk to an acceptable level by making design changes and other countermeasures.

*1:Testing that checks the influence of external electromagnetic interference on the product in question and the extent of impact from the electromagnetic interference that is generated by the product itself.

Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA)

Established in 1957. JQA is a third-party organization in Japan that performs ISO certification, JIS mark certification, certification and testing of electrical products and medical equipment, calibration of measuring instruments, etc. JQA has a depth of experience in working with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to formulate standards and is a leader in the world pertaining to ISO 13482, the international safety standard for personal care robots.