On 20 August, アトム and 日本精工 signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at advancing Japan's humanoid AI robotics industry. By combining precision components technology with physical AI, the companies seek to establish a robotics industry foundation originating in Japan.
アトム, a startup developing humanoid AI robots, and 日本精工 (NSK), a precision components manufacturer, announced that they signed a memorandum of understanding on 20 August concerning a strategic partnership aimed at advancing Japan's humanoid AI robotics industry. The companies said they will establish an integrated development and implementation framework in Japan and build a system for efficiently collecting the data required in the AI field, thereby contributing to the establishment of a robotics industry foundation originating in Japan.
Under the MOU, the companies will pursue 2 initiatives: joint actuator validation and joint collection of physical AI data. They will install humanoid actuators developed by NSK in アトム's robot and conduct a joint evaluation, with the resulting insights reflected in NSK's product development. They will also use NSK's manufacturing facilities to jointly collect data from actual production environments, with the aim of improving the performance of physical AI foundation models.
The heads of both companies emphasized the significance of applying the precision technologies developed over many years by Japan's manufacturing industry to new fields in the robotics industry. アトム said it will advance the development of domestically produced humanoid AI robots and research into a physical AI platform, while NSK said it will support the industry's competitiveness through component supply by leveraging more than 100 years of precision components technology. Starting with this partnership, both companies aim to achieve mass production in Japan and strengthen the international competitiveness of Japanese-made robots.
Future priorities include establishing an integrated development framework in Japan and promoting the advanced integration of AI and hardware. The MOU is positioned as part of efforts to build a foundation for Japanese-made humanoids in global markets.