Yaskawa Electric (TYO:6506) and SoftBank Corp. (TYO:9984) have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on deploying "Physical AI", combining AI-enabled robotics with AI-RAN communication technology, according to a Monday statement by the companies.

The firms said they will co-develop office-focused robot use cases and reveal them at the International Robot Exhibition 2025 held at Tokyo Big Sight from Dec.3 to Dec.6.

Japan's labor shortages and operational complexity are accelerating demand for automation in human-shared spaces such as offices, hospitals and retail hubs, where robots must respond to interruptions and unpredictable conditions.

MOTOMAN NEXT from Yaskawa provides precision motion control and safety-first autonomous decision-making, while SoftBank's AI-RAN and edge computing platform can analyze camera and sensor data at low latency and guide robots from an external vantage point.