Highlanders
About
About Highlanders
Highlanders develops humanoid and quadruped robots together with Kepler, a foundation-model stack for physical intelligence. Its systems target manufacturing, automotive and logistics tasks that require mobile perception, manipulation and operation around human-designed equipment.
The company builds robot hardware, sensing, controls and learning software as an integrated platform and works with industrial partners on application validation. It describes more than 5,000 contacts and pre-orders across target sectors. Mitsubishi Motors invested in Highlanders in connection with automotive humanoid use, supporting development from prototypes toward factory deployment.
Articles
Products
- HL Human
HL Human
Timeline
Events
- 2026-10-20 - Partnership - Highlanders and Karakuri co-develop N humanoid rap performance
Karakuri generates and scores lyrics, synthesises vocals and aligns them to a musical beat. Highlanders provides the humanoid, beat-synchronised motion, safety design and on-site operation. Public performances are scheduled for October 31 and November 1 at the Shizuoka street-performance festival.
Source - 2026-10-13 - Demonstration - Highlanders displays N at CEATEC 2026
The October 13–14 display at Makuhari Messe includes hardware demonstrations and access to development engineers. Highlanders develops the mechanical design, electronics, embedded software and AI internally; stated payload is 8 kg per arm or 12 kg with both arms.
Source - 2026-09-07 - Product Launch - Highlanders launches HLQ EDGE industrial quadruped
The company states peak joint torque of 330 Nm and compatibility with its own robot-arm system. Released hardware footage shows stairs, gaps, uneven outdoor terrain and loaded operation. The event records the named launch and demonstration without creating a new product profile.
Source - 2026-07-09 - Production Milestone - Highlanders and Mitsubishi Motors sign humanoid mass-production MOU
The five-company programme pairs Highlanders with Mitsubishi Motors for humanoid joint development and mass-production planning. Mitsubishi Motors is considering its Kyoto factory for production and will contribute mass-production design, quality, durability and safety expertise. The plan calls for initial factory use of the Highlanders N and targets capacity of 1,000 units per month in late 2027.
Source - 2026-05-29 - Partnership - Highlanders accepts Mitsubishi Motors investment for automotive humanoid work
Highlanders said it began studying automotive-industry humanoid-robot use with Mitsubishi Motors. The company framed the work around applying automotive experience in quality control, procurement, production engineering, mass-production line building and safety assessment to humanoid robots. The same release says Highlanders accepted investment from Mitsubishi Motors as it works toward domestic humanoid-robot mass production.
Source - 2025-06-30 - Product Launch - Highlanders unveils HL Human prototype
The issuer described a 19-degree-of-freedom body with four joints in each arm and an optional five-finger hand. Manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure inspection and disaster response were intended applications, with commercial production planned for 2026.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Karakuri Corporation / カラクリ株式会社 (Japan)
Technology Partner - Highlanders and Japanese voice-AI company Karakuri co-developed an N humanoid rap performance for a scheduled Shizuoka showcase.
- Mitsubishi Motors
Humanoid Joint Development And Mass Production Collaborator - Highlanders and Mitsubishi Motors signed a July 2026 MOU for humanoid joint development and Kyoto factory mass-production planning.