Fujitsu Launches Joint Initiative with FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to Advance Societal Implementation of Physical AI with NVIDIA Technologies

Fujitsu has launched a joint business exploration with FANUC Corporation (hereinafter 'FANUC') (Note 1), Yaskawa Electric Corporation (hereinafter 'Yaskawa Electric') (Note 2), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (hereinafter 'Kawasaki Heavy Industries') (Note 3), leading companies in the robotics industry. This initiative will leverage NVIDIA's technologies to advance the development of a sovereign coordination control platform that bridges the digital and physical worlds. By accelerating the societal implementation of Physical AI across diverse industries—including manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare—the collaboration aims to realize a society where humans and robots coexist and collaborate, while strengthening Japan's industrial competitiveness.

Background

In recent years, various industries, including manufacturing, have faced growing challenges such as labor shortages due to declining birthrates and an aging population, a reduction in skilled technicians, and intensifying global competition. To address these issues and achieve sustainable growth, the advancement of digital transformation (DX) is essential. In particular, expectations are rising for Physical AI—AI systems that perceive and analyze real-world information and execute physical actions. Physical AI enables robots and equipment to understand their surroundings and autonomously determine and perform optimal actions, thereby enabling automation, improved productivity, stabilized quality, and the creation of new services. However, realizing Physical AI requires advanced robotics control technologies, high-quality on-site data, and an AI infrastructure platform. Furthermore, an integrated coordination control platform that connects digital and physical systems is essential—yet developing and disseminating such a platform independently is challenging for a single company. Under these circumstances, Fujitsu, as a technology company, will promote the societal implementation of Physical AI through collaboration with FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries—leaders in the robotics industry—while advancing the standardization and openness of the coordination control platform.

Overview of Joint Business Exploration with Robotics Industry Partners

Societal Implementation of Physical AI The collaboration will explore the societal implementation of Physical AI in the following industrial sectors, with plans to expand to other sectors in the future:

• Factory Solutions: By optimizing overall factory production planning while considering production fluctuations and on-site conditions, and by autonomously adapting to real-time changes, the solution will enhance productivity and flexibility for the manufacturing industry. • Retail and Logistics Solutions: Based on real-time sales and inventory data, logistics planning will be automated, enabling labor reduction and automation in logistics operations. • Healthcare Solutions: Robots will autonomously execute tasks based on instructions from hospital management systems, enabling automated in-hospital transport of medicines and specimens, as well as patient reception and guidance services for outpatients.

Promoting Standardization and Openness of a Sovereign Coordination Control Platform Bridging Digital and Physical Worlds The partners will leverage their respective expertise in AI, robotics, control systems, simulation, and data analytics to develop a common software platform and hardware interfaces that serve as a foundational base for Physical AI. This will facilitate seamless collaboration among various robots and equipment, enabling more advanced autonomous control systems. However, as robots are applied in broader domains and interconnected with other systems, risks such as cyberattacks, system failures, malfunctions, and data leaks increase. Therefore, Fujitsu will develop a coordination control platform that ensures sovereignty—maintaining control over data and operations. This platform will be offered as an open platform in collaboration with like-minded companies and research institutions, promoting the widespread adoption of Physical AI across industries.

Collaboration with NVIDIA

Fujitsu will lead the joint business exploration with robotics industry partners while incorporating key components of NVIDIA’s Physical AI platform—including AI, world models, simulation, and robotics technologies—to enhance its sovereign coordination control platform and accelerate the societal implementation of Physical AI in industrial applications. • Fujitsu will utilize the NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation model as a component of its socio-physical simulation, enhancing its ability to understand and predict entire operational environments. This will further accelerate the development and deployment of Physical AI solutions across diverse fields such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. • Fujitsu will leverage libraries such as NVIDIA Omniverse, the NVIDIA Isaac open platform, and the Newton physics engine to streamline Sim2Real transfer, robot learning, validation, and optimization.

Future Outlook

Building on this joint business exploration, the companies will establish a roadmap for concrete technology development and business expansion. Fujitsu believes that by establishing a system to provide Japan’s world-renowned robotics control technologies and high-quality on-site data-driven AI infrastructure to meet the growing robotics market, Japan can take a pivotal step toward leading the global robotics market. Through the societal implementation of Physical AI, Fujitsu aims to contribute to realizing a safe and prosperous society where humans and robots coexist and collaborate, while strengthening Japan’s industrial competitiveness.

Comment from Mr. Kenji Yamaguchi, Representative Director, President and CEO, FANUC Corporation

We expect this collaboration with Fujitsu to significantly advance and accelerate the societal implementation of Physical AI using robotics. FANUC has already begun practical applications of Physical AI systems using open platforms. By combining Fujitsu’s autonomous AI platform—integrated with enterprise generative AI 'Takane' and NVIDIA technologies—with FANUC robots equipped with advanced AI capabilities on open platforms such as ROS 2 and Python, we aim to deliver a flexible and universally accessible AI system to the field in a timely manner to address challenges such as labor shortages. Through this collaboration with Fujitsu and our shared partner NVIDIA, FANUC will contribute to realizing a society where humans and robots coexist and collaborate, enhancing industrial competitiveness and creating new value for a sustainable society.

Comment from Mr. Masahiro Ogawa, Senior Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Yaskawa Electric Corporation

Yaskawa Electric proposed the i3-Mechatronics (i-cube Mechatronics) solution concept in 2017, aiming to realize a new industrial automation revolution by integrating mechatronics with data utilization. Nearly ten years have passed, during which AI and GPU technologies have evolved significantly, and our vision of expanding automation through data utilization continues to progress. Yaskawa was among the first to launch the MOTOMAN NEXT, an autonomous AI robot with NVIDIA GPUs as standard equipment. Furthermore, by advancing ROS 2 compatibility and treating robots as open platforms, we are actively working toward the societal implementation of Physical AI as outlined in our mid-term management plan. To realize this vision and further expand automation to contribute to society, strengthening partnerships with various stakeholders is essential. This initiative will accelerate the societal implementation of Physical AI together with all stakeholders.