We are pleased to announce its selected participants for the Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition, which is being conducted as part of a commissioned project of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

AIRoA also plans to hold a prototype demonstration event around mid-September 2026 to unveil domestic general-purpose robot prototypes developed and manufactured by the participating companies.

1. Competition Overview

This competition is designed to strengthen the competitiveness of Japan’s robotics industry by promoting the development and manufacturing of practical general-purpose robots, specifically dual-arm mobile manipulators.

The year 2026 is widely viewed as a potential turning point for general-purpose robots as they begin moving closer to practical deployment, making the development of internationally competitive domestic robots an increasingly important priority. Through this competition, the participating companies will develop and manufacture prototype robots over a period of approximately six months.

Robots that meet AIRoA’s evaluation criteria are expected, following a subsequent refinement phase and mass-production preparation phase, to be used as robots for data collection in connection with the development of robot foundation models under the NEDO-commissioned project described below:

* NEDO commissioned project: Project for Strengthening Post-5G Information and Communication Systems Infrastructure / Development of a Data Platform for Generative AI Foundation Models in the Robotics Field

2. Selected Participants

Following a public call for applications, the following companies and consortiums have been selected as participants in the competition, listed in Japanese alphabetical order:

1. Enactic Inc.

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

3. Keigan Inc.

4. THK Co., Ltd.

5. Telexistence Inc.

6. HatsuMuv Corporation

7. Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp.

8. ugo Inc.

3. Prototype Demonstration Event

AIRoA plans to hold a demonstration event in Tokyo around mid-September 2026 to showcase the prototype domestic general-purpose robots.

At the event, attendees will be able to observe work demonstrations carried out by each company’s prototype robot through teleoperation (remote operation).

Details regarding public access and attendance procedures will be announced separately once finalized.

Tentative timing

Around mid-September 2026

(The exact date will be announced separately.)

Venue

Tokyo

(Further details will be announced separately.)

Program

Work demonstrations by prototype general-purpose robots (dual-arm mobile manipulators) using teleoperation (remote operation)

Examples of demonstration tasks

Tasks may include object manipulation in home-like environments, product arrangement in retail-like environments, deformable object handling and tool use in manufacturing-like environments, and sorting tasks in logistics-like environments.

Media attendance

Members of the media interested in attending are invited to contact AIRoA using the contact information below.

4. Next Steps

The competition is expected to proceed through the following stages, from prototype development and manufacturing, to deployment as robots for data collection.

• Around mid-September 2026: Completion of prototype robots and demonstration event

• September 2026 – March 2027: Refinement phase (for companies whose robots meet AIRoA’s evaluation criteria)

• From March 2027: Mass-production preparation phase

• From July 2027 onward: Delivery of production models begins, followed by deployment as robots for data collection

* The schedule is subject to change depending on circumstances.

5. About the NEDO-Commissioned Project

This competition is being carried out as part of the following NEDO-commissioned project:

Project for Strengthening Post-5G Information and Communication Systems Infrastructure / Development of a Data Platform for Generative AI Foundation Models in the Robotics Field

The project aims to develop a data collection platform necessary for robot foundation model development. The domestic general-purpose robots developed through this competition are expected to be used as robots for data collection in support of that effort.

For more information:

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