Yaskawa
Yaskawa aims to bring a humanoid to market within one to two years, reports say
Short answer: Yaskawa Electric, the Japanese maker of MOTOMAN industrial robots, wants to put a humanoid robot of "a certain standard" on the market within one to two years and launch products in earnest around 2030, according to Vuntum, which cites Korea's Robot Newspaper and Nikkei reporting. Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Ogasawara discussed the plan when the company presented results on 9 October, the reports say.
The work builds on Tokyo Robotics, a startup Yaskawa fully acquired on 1 July 2025, according to HuRoC. Vuntum describes it as a Waseda University spin-out founded in 2015 and known for force and impedance control. HuRoC reports that Yaskawa's 9 October supplementary results materials list "accelerating data accumulation through field trials and body design" toward commercialising humanoids as a second-half priority, alongside a photo of a humanoid actuator in development. Vuntum adds that Yaskawa invested in Japanese AI company Noetra in July.
HuRoC adds that in earlier investor Q&A Yaskawa said it is not focused on two-legged walking and is considering an upper-body robot mounted on a mobile base, the layout used by Tokyo Robotics' Torobo, which the startup's site lists as in development at 1,615 mm tall with arms that can each carry up to 7 kg. HuRoC also notes that, as of 10 October, the company had not published the Q&A summary for this briefing, and that no launch date, price or specifications appear in its official materials.