Announcement of Selected Companies for Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition and Prototype Demonstration Event

The AI Robot Association (hereinafter "AIRoA") is pleased to announce the selection of participating companies for the "Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition," which is being implemented as part of a project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (hereinafter "NEDO").

Additionally, a demonstration event is scheduled for mid-September 2026 to unveil the prototypes of domestic general-purpose robots developed and manufactured by the participating companies.

1. Competition Overview

This competition aims to strengthen the competitiveness of Japan's robot industry by promoting the development and manufacturing of practical general-purpose robots (dual-arm mobile manipulators).

The year 2026 is seen as a potential turning point for general-purpose robots to reach a practical stage, making the development of internationally competitive domestic robots a crucial challenge. In this competition, participating companies will complete prototypes after approximately six months of development and manufacturing.

Prototypes that meet the evaluation criteria set by AIRoA will, after a subsequent improvement period and mass production system establishment period, be utilized as data collection robots for the robot foundation model development in the NEDO commissioned project (*).

*NEDO commissioned project: "Research and Development Project for Strengthening Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure / Development of Data Platform for Generative AI Foundation Model Development in Robotics Field"

2. List of Participating Companies

As a result of the public call, the following companies (including consortia) have been selected as participating companies (in alphabetical order).

Company Name (alphabetical order)

1

Enactic Inc.

2

EmplifAI Inc. (Consortium: Mazda Motor Corporation, Ailia Inc., Asratec Corp., TASKO Inc.)

3

Keigan Inc.

4

THK Co., Ltd.

5

Telexistence Inc.

6

HatsuMUV Inc.

7

Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp.

8

ugo Inc.

3. About the Demonstration Event

Around mid-September 2026, a demonstration event will be held in Tokyo to unveil the prototypes of domestic general-purpose robots. At this event, you will be able to witness (planned) work demonstrations by each company's prototype using teleoperation (remote control). Details regarding public access and participation methods for the event will be announced as soon as they are decided.

Timing

Around mid-September 2026 (Detailed schedule will be announced separately)

Venue

Tokyo (Details will be announced separately)

Content

Work demonstrations by general-purpose robot (dual-arm mobile manipulator) prototypes using teleoperation (remote control)

Example Demonstration Tasks

Object manipulation in a home environment, product display in a retail environment, flexible object manipulation/tool operation in a manufacturing environment, sorting tasks in a logistics environment, etc.

Media Coverage

Media coverage is planned for this event. Those wishing to cover the event should contact the inquiry desk below.

4. Future Steps

The process from prototype development and manufacturing to the start of utilization as data collection robots is envisioned to proceed in the following steps.

Period

Content

Around mid-September 2026

Prototype completion and demonstration event held

September 2026 - March 2027

Improvement period (for companies meeting AIRoA's evaluation criteria)

March 2027 -

Mass production system establishment period

From July 2027

Start of mass production machine delivery and utilization as data collection robots

*Schedules may change depending on the situation.

5. About the NEDO Commissioned Project

This competition is being implemented as part of the NEDO commissioned project "Research and Development Project for Strengthening Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure / Development of Data Platform for Generative AI Foundation Model Development in Robotics Field." This project promotes the construction of a data collection platform necessary for the development of robot foundation models, and the domestic general-purpose robots developed through this competition are planned to be utilized as data collection robots for this purpose.

Details: https://www.nedo.go.jp/koubo/CD3_100398.html

Inquiries

AI Robot Association (AIRoA)

Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition Secretariat

E-mail：[email protected]