PARIS, Dec 12: France and Japan have decided to jointly undertake research into robotics. The announcement was made simultaneously in Japan and France where an inaugural ceremony was held at the Paris headquarters of the French governmentally- funded scientific research organisation CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique).

According to Claudie Haignere, the former astronaut who is also France’s minister in charge of research and new technologies, the new venture will allow the two countries to make use of their different approaches to research and do so in a complementary fashion. Two laboratories will take part in the venture, one in Japan, the other in France.

Mrs Haignere was in Japan, at the French embassy in Tokyo, for the announcement and received the document announcing the revolutionary accord from the hands of HRP-2, a 1.54-metre-tall robot, which handed over the file to her and said: “on this beautiful day, I’m happy to hand over this agreement that has just been signed.”

According to Olivier Stasse, a young French researcher who will work out of the Tsukuba JRL facility in Tokyo, “this is an extraordinary platform which should allow us to develop new applications for robotics.”