Development of Human Resources who will Play a Role in Evolution of Manufacturing

We provide various support and activities to young people in order to develop engineers who will lead the future.

Using the Robot Village (Yaskawa Innovation Center, Yaskawa History Museum, Robot Factory, Greenbelt) as well as each factory and robot center, visitors will be able to come into contact with technologies and products centered on “motors and their applications” that Yaskawa has cultivated over 100 years. The initiatives are intended to encourage interest in science and technology that is continuing to evolve on a daily basis, and will contribute to the development of human resources who will be responsible for next-generation manufacturing.

We invited students from Fukuoka Prefecture’s Kokura High School, which is recognized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a Super Science High School (SSH), to participate in a hands-on online learning event to increase their interest in science and technology. This was an opportunity for the students to deepen their knowledge by learning about Yaskawa’s environmental initiatives, such as the Green Process and Green Products, as well as cutting-edge eco-friendly technologies, while giving quizzes along with Yaskawa’s ECOVISION and 2050 CARBON NEUTRAL CHALLENGE. We are continuing our efforts to provide attractive opportunities for human resource development.

Since 2015, we have held an event called “Girl’s Day” *1 every year for junior high school girls in Kitakyushu City, where our head office is located, to introduce them to workplaces in the field of science and manufacturing. In fiscal 2020, due to COVID-19 crisis we gave up holding the event, but in fiscal 2021, we changed it to an online event, which was held not only for junior high school students but also for high school students. In addition to an introduction of Yaskawa, we also introduced our industrial robots and the work of female engineers and held roundtable discussions. We made an opportunity for the students to interact with Yaskawa engineers so that they would have an image of what they like and are interested in doing in their work, regardless of gender.
*1: “Girl’s Day” is an open event started by the German government in 2001 for companies, universities, research centers, and other organizations to invite female students from elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools to promote female participation in the engineering career. Three sites of Yaskawa Europe in Germany also conduct similar activities every year.(Note) Cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2005, Yaskawa Electric has co-sponsored the annual Technical College Students’ Robot Contest, popularly known as the Kosen Robo-Con, in which engineers-to-be from around Japan compete in contests focusing on robot production ideas and technology as well as robot performance. Held since 1988, 2021 marked RoboCon’s 34th anniversary.
As a company in the robotics business, we support this educational opportunity in order to encourage many young students to get involved in manufacturing and in hopes of fostering the next generation of talent.

As a part of the project for the 100th anniversary of the company’s establishment, Yaskawa published a comic book, “Hataraku Robot no Himitsu (The Secret of Robots Manufacturing),” as one of the series of educational materials for primary school children “Manga de Yokuwakaru Series (Let’s Learn It with Comic),” planned and produced by Gakken Publishing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Gakken”) and donated the comic books to 22,000 primary schools and 3,200 public libraries in Japan through Gakken.
The series are Gakken’s educational materials, which introduce various themes in order for children to understand them easily, that have been popular among children for more than 20 years as recommended books by “The Public-Interest Corporation of Japan PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) National Council.” Assenting to its intent and purpose, Yaskawa supported this publication to foster children’s interest in manufacturing and expand their possibility for the future through industrial robots, one of its major products.