From 30 September 2026 through 13 October 2026, activity intensified among Japanese companies, particularly, to strengthen the foundations of physical AI and expand its deployment in real-world settings. Beginning with OMRON's acquisition of industrial PC company OnLogic, efforts advanced to incorporate physical AI into Kawasaki Heavy Industries' growth investments and expand development support from AWS and NVIDIA, strengthening the use of real-world data as well as safety and simulation.
The main news during the period can be summarized as an acceleration in Japanese companies' efforts to strengthen the foundations of physical AI. OMRON will acquire US-based OnLogic and Interlogic for approximately ¥104.6 billion, strengthening its GEMBA DX and physical AI framework to integrate sensors, control systems and AI at operational sites. Kawasaki Heavy Industries incorporated physical AI into its ¥550 billion growth investment plan and positioned its use in production operations as the core of its expanded in-house demonstrations.
There was also progress toward making the brains of real-world operations available through external APIs. Physical Intelligence announced the beta release of Pi API, enabling companies to use models fine-tuned with their own data through an API. AWS Japan launched the second phase of its physical AI development support program, promoting the adoption of robot foundation models and simulation.
In addition, a heavy-load transport demonstration by Kaleido9, involving approximately 22.7 kg, and the results of its joint development with Matsuo Institute were announced, indicating faster progress in Sim-to-Real validation. NVIDIA introduced methods for creating SimReady assets, while GlobalFoundries set out a semiconductor roadmap for physical AI centered on FD-SOI. Overseas developments also included Agility Robotics' safety collaboration and SEC registration procedures, as well as capital-market activity such as RobCo's valuation exceeding $1 billion.