This report organizes the key physical AI news reported in Japan and overseas during the two weeks through 16 August, focusing on field operations, capital-market developments and regulatory trends. The main topics include ZEALS' launch and mass-production plans for the D1, FANUC's development of an open platform, and Unitree's planned Shanghai IPO.
Among the key domestic developments, ZEALS formally unveiled its D1 humanoid, with pricing starting at ¥5 million per unit. The company aims to mass-produce 100 units within fiscal 2026 and achieve a cumulative 10,000 hours of field operation. The decision to use field operating hours as a KPI suggests an intention to shift the basis for investment evaluation away from the success of demonstrations and toward data from actual operations.
FANUC published and expanded its open physical AI platform, including initiatives with NVIDIA and Google. The use of existing industrial robot assets in combination with AI models and external computing infrastructure is becoming increasingly viable, raising the importance of APIs, data acquisition capabilities and simulation environments.
Overseas, Unitree announced plans for an IPO on the Shanghai STAR Market, reportedly targeting a valuation of approximately CNY 61 billion and fundraising of approximately CNY 6.1 billion. DeepSeek is said to have made a strategic investment, prompting views that the integration of AI models and robotics will advance.
The partnership between LG and NVIDIA points to a strategy spanning next-generation humanoid development and factory operations platforms. In Europe, Pony.ai and Uber announced plans to expand robotaxis. Together, these developments indicate the growing adoption of a horizontally specialized model in which AI models, computing infrastructure and vehicle operations are handled by separate parties.