The 2023 MECHATROLINK Members Association (MMA) General Meeting was held at Akihabara UDX Conference (Tokyo) on June 2, 2023.

The meeting opened with a speech by MMA chairman, Mr. Kenji Ueyama (General Manager, Motion Control Division, Yaskawa Electric Corp.). He looked back on the developments so far under the COVID-19 pandemic and offered his thoughts on the growing expectations for further technological innovation and automation in the future. He also talked about the accelerated momentum of MECHATROLINK-compatible products and their development environment.

During the General Meeting, the MMA General Secretary delivered a report on activities in FY2022 and announced the FY2023 activity plan. In the new products segment of the meeting, Yaskawa Electric Corp. and Shinko Technos Co., Ltd. held presentations and exhibited their products. In addition, a presentation on the adoption of MECHATROLINK for machine vision equipment was held in cooperation with the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA).

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the association, rakugo storyteller Taihei Hayashiya was invited to give a special lecture during the second half of the meeting. The lecture was titled "A smile attracts more smiles." The episodes from his encounters with various people were moving and clearly resonated with the audience, who showed different emotions as they were listening.

The meeting was concluded with a standing reception.
Despite the limited time available and the limited number of participants, we were delighted to have been able to provide the participants with an opportunity to exchange ideas with each other.

This was the first live event held in four years, and many people came from far and wide to participate.
The MMA and its members will continue to actively promote the use of MECHATROLINK.