Yaskawa Electric

Motoman maker whose Tokyo Robotics unit is building a bipedal humanoid and humanoid actuators

Public · Prototype · Robotics leader · Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan · Founded 1915 · 6506 (TSE) · yaskawa-global.com

The humanoid status refers to the Torobo prototype. Some dates are approximate.

Profile

Yaskawa is a top-four industrial-robot maker and a major servo-motor supplier. Its 2025-acquired Tokyo Robotics unit showed a bipedal Torobo humanoid prototype in Apr 2026, and Yaskawa is developing humanoid actuators. Its MOTOMAN NEXT platform uses Google's Gemini Robotics for agentic tasks.

People

• HO
  Hiroshi Ogasawara

  President (from May 27, 2026)
• MO
  Masahiro Ogawa

  Vice Chairman, responsible for AI robotics

Source: Yaskawa notice of management changes (PDF) · As of Oct 8, 2026. X handles are shown only when we could confirm they belong to the person.

Flagship robots

• MOTOMAN NEXT Industrial robot
  AI robot platform; agentic system powered by Gemini Robotics
• Torobo (Tokyo Robotics) Humanoid
  Dual-arm and new bipedal humanoid prototype

Market & financials

Competitors

Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.

• ABB Robotics

  Direct competitor

  CHRobotics leader

  Both sell industrial robot arms to factories worldwide: ABB Robotics makes industrial robots and is being acquired by SoftBank, while Yaskawa Electric makes Motoman industrial robots and is building a bipedal humanoid through its Tokyo Robotics unit.

  Sources (2)

  • Yaskawa Electric (company website)
  • ABB to divest Robotics division to SoftBank Group (ABB)

• FANUC

  Direct competitor

  JPRobotics leader

  Both sell industrial robot arms to factories worldwide: FANUC is the world's largest industrial-robot maker and also sells cobots, while Yaskawa Electric makes Motoman industrial robots and is building a bipedal humanoid through its Tokyo Robotics unit.

  Sources (2)

  • Yaskawa Electric (company website)
  • FANUC (company website)

• Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Robotics)

  Direct competitor

  JPHumanoid OEM

  Both sell industrial robot arms to factories worldwide: Kawasaki Heavy Industries makes industrial robots and is developing the Kaleido humanoid for factory use around 2030, while Yaskawa Electric makes Motoman industrial robots and is building a bipedal humanoid through its Tokyo Robotics unit.

  Sources (2)

  • Yaskawa Electric (company website)
  • The current goals of Kaleido 9 as a humanoid robot (Kawasaki Robotics)

Recent news

• Oct 8, 2026 — MOTOMAN NEXT agentic system powered by Gemini Robotics Yaskawa
• Apr 15, 2026 — Tokyo Robotics' Torobo gets legs: RL-driven bipedal prototype Humanoids Daily

Sources

• Implementing i3-Mechatronics and driving evolution with AI robotics (Yaskawa Integrated Report 2026) (Sep 1, 2026)
• Tokyo Robotics steps into the bipedal arena with RL-driven humanoid (Humanoids Daily) (Apr 15, 2026)
• MOTOMAN NEXT agentic robot system powered by Gemini Robotics (Yaskawa) (Oct 8, 2026)

Confidence: medium.

Suggest a correction