Robot [Ropot]

Outline* The shown information is the one as of the awarded date and might has been changed.

Outline: A new idea for raising traffic safety awareness for the lower grades in elementary school. It's attached to the shoulder of school bag and vibrates to notify the point registered by parents in advance to draw attention. It also can notify when cars and bicycles approaching behind them. We can check the behavior histrory with the smartphone application, which hepls safety confirmation.
Producer: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Director: Koji Miwa, Executive Chief Engineer, Design Center, Honda R&D Co., Ltd.
Designer: Kuniharu Wakata, Yu Saitsu, Energy & Robotics Design Studio, Life Creation Design Division, Design Center, Honda R&D Co., Ltd./ Michihito Okado, Visualization Studio, Advanced Design Division
More information: https://www.honda.co.jp/stories/002/
Already in service/use: 2021/6/1

Evaluation

Years 1 to 3 primary school students continue to expand their range of activities. Considering hazards surrounding them when they commute to school, this small robot has a function to provide various reminders while they are walking. We highly praised the proposal of new value focusing on not just improving safety capability of motor vehicles but also environments beyond that, which could only made by a car manufacturer. This product has an adorable and expressive face, which was probably designed with an expectation that this will be attached on the shoulders of children. We hope this product will be loved and adopted into households in many ways, such as revising the process with parents and children by using a dedicated application.