Insider Brief
- Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric signed a three-year agreement with the Chiba Institute of Technology to jointly develop physical AI technologies and autonomous robotics systems for applications ranging from manufacturing and infrastructure maintenance to future use cases such as logistics and disaster response.
- The partnership will establish a co-creation center focused on commercializing robotics systems including humanoids, multi-legged robots and drones, with initial efforts aimed at infrastructure inspection and industrial operations as labor shortages and aging infrastructure increase demand for automation.
- According to Mitsubishi Electric, the initiative combines its industrial and factory automation expertise with Chiba’s robotics research capabilities, including motion technologies designed to help robots respond more adaptively to changing real-world environments.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric has signed a three-year agreement with the Chiba Institute of Technology to jointly develop physical AI technologies and autonomous robotics systems for everything from manufacturing to infrastructure maintenance. The initiative will focus on developing “homegrown” physical AI technologies capable of adapting to real-world environments and performing more autonomous tasks, according to Mitsubishi Electric.
“We are promoting the implementation of solutions to address a wide range of societal challenges, including labor shortages, energy issues and geopolitical risks, in collaboration with leading companies and technology partners worldwide,” Kunihiko Kaga, Mitsubishi Electric’s representative executive officer, executive VP and CTO, said. “Through the establishment of the Co-Creation Center, we will accelerate the research and development of physical AI that endows robots with situational adaptability equal to or beyond that of humans, to tackle the challenge of realizing advanced solutions such as unmanned factories.”
The center’s work will include developing humanoid robots, multi-legged robots and drones with initial efforts targeting areas such as infrastructure inspection and manufacturing operations. Mitsubishi noted longer-term applications are expected in logistics and disaster response, providing a public safety facet to the partnership. The agreement runs through April 2029.
Mitsubishi pointed out Chiba, thorugh its Future Robotics Technology Center, has the “large-scale physical model technologies” that complement its own industrial systems, infrastructure and factory automation experience and expertise.
Many industrial tasks involving tool use, assembly and equipment adjustments remain difficult to automate because they require flexibility and real-time adaptation to changing environments, according to Mitsubishi Electric, The company said physical AI could become a foundational technology for enabling robots to perform more complex work similar to skilled human operators.
“From manufacturing to security, the applications of physical AI remain limited across many real-world situations,” Takayuki Furuta, director of the board of trustees and director of Chiba’s Future Robotics Technology Center, said. “To ensure robots evolve from ‘demo’ tool into truly useful technologies, we will leverage the strengths of both parties to vigorously advance the creation of new industries through the research and development of next-generation physical AI that surpasses human capabilities, DevOps2, and the acceleration of the innovation cycle.”
