As Japan gears up to host the summer Olympics in 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced he wants robots to compete against each other in the sporting event.
Abe was quoted by AFP as saying: "In 2020 I would like to gather all of the world’s robots and aim to hold an Olympics where they compete in technical skills. We want to make robots a major pillar of our economic growth strategy." Abe said.
The Japanese Prime Minister has also set up a task force for the development of the robotics industry in the country, and hopes to grow the sector three-fold from its current value to $24bn.
"We would like to set up a council on making a robotic revolution a reality in order to aid Japan’s growth," Abe added.
He noted that robotics competitions already take place in the other parts of the world, such as RoboGames and RoboCup.
