Insider Brief
- Mitsubishi Electric says it has developed the industry’s first machining system that uses physical AI to coordinate humanoid robots with CNC machine tools, allowing robots to take on operator tasks such as setup, cleaning, inspection and finished-product handling.
- The system combines an AI machining task planner, a physical AI-enabled CNC machine and a general-purpose humanoid robot, with natural-language instructions used to assign and coordinate work.
- Mitsubishi Electric said the system could reduce labor needs and robot-by-robot integration work at machining sites, and plans to demonstrate it at JIMTOF 2026 beginning Oct. 26 at Tokyo Big Sight.
Mitsubishi Electric says it has developed the industry’s first machining system that uses physical AI to coordinate humanoid robots with computer numerical control, or CNC, machine tools.
According to the company, the system is designed to let humanoids perform work normally handled by machine-tool operators, from setup and cleaning to moving finished products, inspection and troubleshooting. Mitsubishi Electric said the technology could reduce the amount of human labor needed at machining sites.
The company based its industry-first claim on its own research, covering numerical-control systems built around humanoid robot collaboration.
Mitsubishi Electric pointed out that manufacturers are looking to automate more operator tasks as the industry faces a labor shortage. Jobs that depend on human physical capabilities, such as placing a workpiece inside a machine or cleaning equipment, can be expensive to automate with conventional industrial robots because production lines may need substantial modification.
Humanoids offer another approach because they could perform those jobs without the same level of retrofitting, the company said. Connecting them to CNC equipment has remained a hurdle, however, because each robot can require dedicated communication functions and control sequences.
How it Works
The new system handles that coordination through an AI machining task planner, a CNC machine equipped with physical AI and a general-purpose humanoid robot. The new system handles that coordination through three main components:
- AI machining task planner: Operators give the system basic instructions in natural language. The planner creates the required machining tasks and assigns work between the CNC machine and humanoid robot.
- Physical AI-enabled CNC machine: The machine exchanges operating information in natural language and coordinates its work with the humanoid during machining.
- General-purpose humanoid robot: The robot carries out the physical work assigned as part of the machining process.
Mitsubishi Electric said the system can support unmanned machining operations and management from basic operator instructions without requiring complex integration for each individual robot. The company ultimately wants to use the technology in more autonomous manufacturing and fully unmanned factories.
A demonstration is scheduled for JIMTOF 2026, the 33rd Japan International Machine Tool Fair, beginning Oct. 26 at Tokyo Big Sight.
