Kawasaki Heavy Industries is collaborating with NVIDIA, Microsoft, and other firms through a newly established center in San Jose, California, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its robotic capabilities.

The Japanese industrial conglomerate stated on Friday that its objective is to develop integrated AI and robotics businesses with NVIDIA, spanning multiple sectors and initially focusing on healthcare.

Kawasaki aims to create new products by incorporating AI into its offerings, which include robots designed for surgical support, meal and medication delivery, and a rideable robot for mountain climbing.

The company's diverse operations extend across aerospace, shipbuilding, energy, plant engineering, and motorcycles. It also markets robots for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Kawasaki noted it has amassed extensive operational data from manufacturing sites over many years.

Kawasaki is not alone in seeking to merge AI potential with robotics. Japanese industrial robot manufacturer Fanuc announced plans in December to collaborate with NVIDIA on robot improvements.

In October, SoftBank Group agreed to acquire the robotics business of Swiss industrial giant ABB for $5.4 billion.

NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, remarked, "The next frontier of AI is enabling machines to comprehend the physical world and move and work safely around people." He added, "Kawasaki and NVIDIA are jointly laying the groundwork for a new generation of intelligent machines."

Kawasaki's CEO, Yasuhiko Hashimoto, emphasized that the company's goal is not to replace humans "but to provide physical AI that can safely and efficiently support human judgment and actions." Physical AI refers to artificial intelligence capable of autonomously perceiving, reasoning, and making decisions in real-world environments, and executing physical actions through machinery.

The Japanese firm also stated it aims to work with Microsoft to accelerate the deployment of physical AI products. Additionally, it will collaborate with U.S. chipmaker Analog Devices and Japan's Fujitsu through the San Jose center.

Following the announcement of these partnerships with NVIDIA, Microsoft, and others, Kawasaki Heavy Industries' stock rose 4.5% on Friday.