Robots have been developed as a result of the merging of various sophisticated technologies such as mechanical engineering, control systems, electronics, and software and they have played a significant role in automating the manufacturing industry. However, their rate of introduction in service sectors, especially the medical and healthcare sectors, is much slower than expected. Technology convergence may be one of the keys to promote the introduction of robots in new sectors e.g., the medical & healthcare sectors. Technological relatedness including technology convergence has been measured by various methodologies using citation network analysis, clustering, or technology similarity. Although these measurements could identify the overall characteristics of technology convergence, more detailed analyses are required to identify the specific patterns and instances of this convergence. The purpose of this research is first, to identify the technology convergence more precisely than before by using a new methodology named “module-based mining methodology;” second, to extract the patterns of technology convergence; and finally to examine the processes of technology convergence in the field of robotics research. This study would enable researchers and policymakers to achieve accelerated development of new products and services for new sectors including the medical and healthcare market.

Introduction

Robot technologies have been developed as a result of the merging of various sophisticated technologies such as mechanical engineering, control systems, electronics, and software for approximately half a century. Industrial robots, which have become indispensable intelligent machines as a tool of factory automation, have been introduced rapidly in various manufacturing industries such as automobile manufacturing and electronics, and are expected to contribute to healthcare & medicare, autonomous vehicles, the construction & maintenance of large infrastructure and plants such as bridges, tunnels, large buildings, agriculture, and other service sectors. In spite of high expectations, the implementation of robots in the medical & healthcare, construction, rescue, and other service fields has made much less progress than expected. In 2001, the Japan Robot Association (JARA) estimated the size of the Japanese medical and welfare market to be ¥۲۶۰ billion (US$2.17 billion)1 , (e.g., education, home-based virtual training, entertainment-oriented rehabilitation systems) and this was expected to become ¥۱٫۵ trillion (US$12.5 billion) by 2010 (Japan Robot Association, (JARA), 2001). However, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, Industry (METI) of Japan announced in 2013 that the Japanese market for the use of robots in the service sector in 2012 was estimated to be worth only ¥۶۰ billion (US$0.5 billion) (Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan (METI), 2013).