Japan has maintained a strong competitive edge in the field of industrial robots for a long time. However, as Chinese and European manufacturers in the industry catch up, Japanese companies are gradually losing market share. According to a report by Nikkei Asia on July 3rd, in order to compete for market dominance, Japanese industrial robot manufacturers are planning to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their product competitiveness.
Anzura Electric's new factory located in Kitakyushu, Japan, was fully operational in June. Of the approximately 100 industrial robots used in this factory, one-third are driven by AI. Traditional industrial robots of this company can only produce two or three products on a single production line, but AI models enable the factory to produce 12 different types of products, making it easier to adapt to changing demands.
According to reports, Yaskawa Electric has jointly developed the Motoman Next industrial robot with NVIDIA. This is one of the first robots in the industry equipped with a GPU. It can perceive its surrounding environment and move accordingly. Lin Tianbu, executive director of Yaskawa Electric, said: “Through AI robots, we double our productivity.”
For example, in the process of screwing screws, if a traditional industrial robot encounters problems, it will stop working, and employees need to manually tighten the screws. In contrast, AI industrial robots automatically make adjustments and try again once they detect a failure. A representative from Yaskawa Electric said, “The success rate has increased to nearly 100%.”
Currently, Yaskawa Electric plans to use AI industrial robots to handle complex tasks such as wiring and assembly that are difficult for traditional robots to perform. The goal is to increase the automation rate in factories from the current approximately 40% to 90%.
Yaskawa Electric's Factory 《Nihon Keizai Asia》
Another Japanese robotics giant, Fanuc, also showcased an AI-driven robot in May this year. This robot is equipped with Google's Gemini AI assistant and can execute written instructions without prior training, making it suitable for delivering tools and components to production lines. Fanuc Executive Director Kenichiro Abe said, "These robots can be used even by part-time employees."
In the field of industrial robots, Japan has long maintained its advantage. However, with the strong rise of industrial robot manufacturers in China and Europe in recent years, Japanese companies have gradually lost market share. According to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics, robots manufactured in Japan once occupied 80% of the market share in the 1990s, but this proportion has now dropped to 40%.
Over the past decade, Japanese robot manufacturers have tried to enhance their competitiveness, but with little success. Panasonic once attempted to develop a FIELD system with Cisco Systems that could perform all data analysis tasks within factories. However, due to high costs and the rise of cloud services, this system did not attract much attention from the industry.
The rise of physical AI has brought new opportunities for Japanese robot manufacturers, who are trying to promote open cooperation with AI companies. Fanuc has announced its collaboration with Google, while Yaskawa Electric has decided to invest in the Noetra alliance led by SoftBank.
Experts at Mitsubishi Research Institute in Japan, Matsumi Masaki, said: "The US and China are way ahead of other countries in the development of generative AI and large language models. However, on the other hand, the market for robot AI may form alongside the device and supply chain in Japan, which means there is still room for Japanese companies to enter this market."
Currently, China is continuously enhancing its competitiveness in the field of industrial robots, with both production and exports showing steady growth. According to the "Digital China Development Report (2025)" released by the National Data Bureau on June 8th, by 2025, China's exports of industrial robots will increase by 48.7%, and for the first time, they will exceed imports, making China a net exporter of industrial robots.
The report shows that in 2025, there will be more than 140 domestic robot manufacturers, and over 330 humanoid robot products will be released. The production of industrial robots increased by 28% year-on-year. The production of service robots reached 18.581 million units, a 16.1% increase compared to the previous year.
At the same time, there are approximately 1 million robot-related enterprises operating or existing nationwide. By the end of 2025, there were 744 investment events in the fields of embodied intelligence and robots in China, with a total financing amount of 73.543 billion yuan.
