The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory was founded in 1937, and since that time has been actively involved in developing our knowledge and understanding of basic Engineering Science while at the same time taking up the challenge of developing advanced Engineering Technologies. At the end of the second millenium, we see our greatest challenge to be the discovery and application of revolutionary engineering methods towards the development of a new technological system in which engineering is truly integrated in a synergetic fashion with human activity and the natural world. In this context, 1999 has seen remarkable progress in two projects in the laboratory :- the development of friendly robots, and the development of the microfactory.
The laboratory has also been accredited under the environmental management standard (ISO 14001), and we see this as being of long-term strategic benefit to our research.
Finally, we maintain our long-standing interest in international cooperative research, and hope to use this as part of our strategy to realise a cyclic system of mechanical engineering to obtain maximum benefit for mankind with minimum adverse environmental effect.
Naotake Ooyama, Dr.
Director General
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory
