Black AI to Participate in Hackathon Held at GMO Humanoid Lab

Black AI, Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo; Representative Director: Xunran Li) will participate in the humanoid hackathon 'HUMANOID HACK TOKYO,' scheduled for May 30-31, 2026, to develop a demonstration of humans and humanoid robots cooperatively pounding mochi.

This project aims to realize 'Human-Robot Collaboration' (HRC), where humans and robots work safely in sync, using the traditional Japanese culture of mochi pounding as the theme.

Development Details In mochi pounding, one person needs to swing a mallet while another turns the mochi.

In this demonstration, a human performs the turning action, while the humanoid robot uses a camera to recognize the position of the person's hand. To ensure safe cooperation, the robot pauses the mallet while the person's hand is inside the mortar and swings it down the moment the hand is removed.

The theme is 'collaboration'—understanding human status and matching actions—rather than simple automation.

Social Significance Succession of craftsmanship and skilled techniques is a major issue in Japan.

Due to the declining birthrate, aging population, and a shortage of successors, many traditional technologies and on-site expertise are in danger of being lost. Meanwhile, robot technology has primarily developed for the purpose of automation and labor saving.

Black AI focuses on the potential for robots that work alongside humans, learn from them, and inherit skills, rather than robots that replace humans.

This project presents a future vision where robots that have learned the movements of craftsmen cooperate with humans, proposing a new approach that reconciles 'skill succession' with 'human-robot collaboration.'

Why Mochi Pounding? Mochi pounding is a representative collaborative task in Japan where people must time their actions with each other.

Since even the slightest timing discrepancy can lead to an accident, a high level of mutual understanding and trust is required.

Through this easily understood subject, we believe many people will intuitively grasp the vision of a future where humans and robots can collaborate safely and naturally.

About Black AI Black AI, Inc. is an AI startup specializing in AI development.

Through research and development in the fields of Generative AI, AI Agents, and Physical AI, we aim for the social implementation of AI.

In this hackathon, we will verify the potential of human-robot collaboration using humanoid robots and look forward to wide-ranging applications in logistics, manufacturing, caregiving, and traditional crafts in the future.

Public Demo On Sunday, May 31, the final day of the hackathon, the venue is scheduled to be open to the public from 14:30 onwards.

Those interested in humanoid robots, Physical AI, or human-robot collaboration technology are encouraged to visit the venue.