Kawasaki Heavy Industries
About
About Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Kawasaki's robotics work includes different approaches to bringing human skills into automated production. Its duAro family uses two SCARA arms for collaborative work, while the Successor programme explores remote cooperation and the transfer of skilled operators' movements to robots. Both sit alongside the group's established industrial-arm business.
The company has also used humanoid research to investigate mobility beyond fixed production cells. At iREX 2019, its Kaleido programme demonstrated disaster-recovery tasks and developments in onboard power and hydraulic mechanisms. These projects illustrate how Kawasaki extends experience in industrial motion control into collaborative manipulation, remote work and mobile robotics, with research demonstrations developing alongside its commercial factory-automation products.
Articles
Products
- RHP Bex
RHP
Deployments
- Customer site
2025-06-04 - Keio University Hospital began operation of Kawasaki FORRO delivery robot service. - single named hospital deployment - Keio University Hospital
Source
Supply
Supply chain relationships
- Sonardyne
Inbound - Navigation - Sonardyne SPRINT-Nav and AvTrak 6 support Kawasaki Heavy Industries' SPICE AUV
Source
Financials
- 7012.T - TSE - JPY
Team
- Yasuhiko Hashimoto - President and Chief Executive Officer - Kawasaki's industrial robotics and precision machinery businesses sit within the group he leads.
- Yoshimoto Matsuda - President, Precision Machinery & Robot Company - This is the group leadership role most directly tied to Kawasaki's industrial robot business.
Timeline
Events
- 2026-05-21 - Demonstration - Kawasaki and Matsuo disclose Kaleido9 reinforcement-learning lift-and-place results
The physical demonstration took place on May 21 at the Kawasaki Physical AI Center San Jose opening. The team built an NVIDIA simulation-to-real training and inference workflow in six weeks. Validation at KAWARUBA in Haneda preceded the San Jose demonstration.
Source - 2026-10-06 - Demonstration - Kawasaki demonstrates wall-climbing robot for shipyard welding and inspection
The prototype can traverse vertical walls, with movement intended to reach hull and ceiling work areas. Development incorporates skilled workers’ methods to address labour shortages and the transfer of shipbuilding expertise. Kawasaki is targeting practical use in 2028.
Source - 2026-10-06 - Product Launch - Kawasaki unveils Home LEO eldercare robot prototype
The development programme covers conversation, daily-life monitoring and assistance such as finding and handing over items. Kawasaki plans demonstration trials with government bodies, medical and care institutions, and AI technology companies. The proposed care platform would share everyday and wellness data with care providers under user consent and appropriate information controls.
Source - 2026-10-04 - Partnership - Kawasaki plans Noetra Physical AI integration for autonomous humanoid development
Noetra aims to develop its robot-control Physical AI technology around fiscal 2030. Kawasaki is also an investor in Noetra, connecting the proposed robotics integration with its existing backing of the AI developer.
Source - 2026-09-22 - Partnership - Kawasaki and Bosch Rexroth sign off-highway autonomy framework
The planned work combines Kawasaki hydraulic hardware and excavator-system expertise with Bosch Rexroth electronics, software and electrification. The companies identify autonomous operation, worksite safety and data exchange among the intended development areas. The framework also covers hydrogen solutions, and the planned initiatives remain subject to continuing antitrust review.
Source - 2026-09-08 - Contract Award - Kawasaki Heavy Industries signs multi-year EdgeCortix development agreement
The initial programme is valued at several million dollars. Work covers edge-AI development, system integration, feasibility studies and prototype platforms. The agreement targets low-power onboard AI for future aerial systems rather than a currently fielded production configuration.
Source - 2026-08-07 - Market Signal - Kawasaki robotics orders reach JPY 35.6 billion in FY2026 first quarter
Robotics orders increased by JPY 15.4 billion year over year, while robotics revenue increased by JPY 2.6 billion. Revenue from semiconductor-manufacturing robots rose to JPY 12.5 billion from JPY 9.0 billion as AI and memory investment supported demand. General-purpose robot revenue increased to JPY 6.2 billion from JPY 5.1 billion, while automotive assembly and painting robot revenue declined to JPY 5.0 billion from JPY 5.8 billion.
Source - 2026-07-16 - Partnership - Fujitsu begins physical-AI business study with FANUC, Yaskawa and Kawasaki
Fujitsu will lead the business study and contribute AI, world-model, simulation and systems-integration capabilities. The robot manufacturers bring industrial platforms, control systems and deployment experience. The initiative builds on Fujitsu and NVIDIA collaboration and is intended to move physical AI toward commercial implementation in Japan.
Source - 2026-07-14 - Market Signal - Kawasaki prices ¥197.4B share and convertible-bond issuance
Net share proceeds of about ¥92.4 billion include factory automation, robotics and physical-AI production investment. Bond proceeds include approximately ¥30.5 billion for physical-AI R&D, alliances and related capital uses; this is a capital-market transaction, not venture funding.
Source - 2025-07-04 - Partnership - Kawasaki and Foxconn co-develop Nurabot nurse assistant robot
Kawasaki said verification experiments had been underway at Taichung Veterans General Hospital since April 2025. The project combines Kawasaki robotic hardware and hospital-service robotics work with Foxconn AI and manufacturing capabilities.
Source - 2025-06-04 - Deployment - Keio University Hospital begins operation of Kawasaki FORRO delivery robot service
Keio University Hospital and Kawasaki Heavy Industries began operating an automated delivery service using Kawasaki's FORRO indoor delivery robot. The service began inside the hospital on April 1, 2025 and supports healthcare professionals with internal transport tasks. The deployment gives Kawasaki a live healthcare-service robotics reference beyond its industrial robot arm business.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Bosch Rexroth
Off Highway Technology Collaborator - Kawasaki and Bosch Rexroth are developing off-highway machinery combining hydraulics, electronics, software and electrification.
- EdgeCortix
Technology Partner - EdgeCortix and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are working under a 2026–2028 edge-AI development and integration programme.
- Matsuo Institute
Research Contract - Kawasaki and Matsuo Institute disclosed a jointly developed Kaleido9 control policy that lifted and placed approximately 22.7 kg using both arms.
- Fujitsu
Physical AI Business Study Partner - Fujitsu is working with kawasaki-heavy-industries on physical-AI business studies and deployment pathways in Japan.
- NVIDIA
Physical AI Collaborator - Kawasaki Heavy Industries is integrating NVIDIA physical-AI technologies in robotics and manufacturing.
Context
Comparable profiles
- Comau
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- ABB Robotics
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- Stäubli Robotics
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- Estun Automation
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- SIASUN Robot & Automation Co., Ltd.
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- STEP Robotics
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- KAWADA Robotics Corporation
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- Kawasaki Robotics
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- Hechuan Technology
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- ABB
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- FANUC
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
- KUKA
comparable profile - Industrial Robot Arm Builder
Shared workflows
- BXI Robotics
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Armatrix
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- AutoL
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Bowintec
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Monumental Labs
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Kolektor Digital
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Unchained Robotics
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- coboworx
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Revise Robotics
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Radian Robotics
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Vnstar Automation JSC
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
- Reimagine Robotics
workflow adjacency - Industrial Robot Cell Deployment
Context tags
- Industrial robot arm builder - Peer Group - Kawasaki Robotics official product and application surfaces support this classification.
- Industrial robot cell deployment - Workflow - Kawasaki Robotics official product and application surfaces support this classification.
- Industrial robotics OEM - Stack Layer - Kawasaki Robotics official product and application surfaces support this classification.
Commercial
- Kawasaki Heavy Industries signs multi-year EdgeCortix development agreement
2026-09-08 · Order / contract · Kawasaki Heavy Industries awarded EdgeCortix a 2026–2028 development and integration programme for future AI-enabled aerial defence and autonomy systems.
Source