Hitachi, Ltd. and FANUC CORPORATION have announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership toward the joint commercialisation of physical AI implementation. Under this partnership, the two companies will promote the joint validation and joint deployment of physical AI that combines Hitachi’s AI technologies, represented by HMAX Industry, with FANUC’s industrial robots equipped with AI technologies. In the validation, Hitachi Group factories will be used as “Customer Zero”, where AI will continuously learn site-specific rules in production activities. This will enable the practical application of physical AI that can respond flexibly and accurately to issues arising at actual manufacturing sites, beyond what can be achieved solely through imitation learning or simulations in virtual environments (digital twins).
By leveraging the Physical AI implementation and operational know-how gained through the joint validation, the two companies will begin deploying solutions to customers in fiscal 2027, utilising their global installed bases across a wide range of industries, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, advanced materials, automotive, logistics, food, shipbuilding, and agriculture. By significantly accelerating the autonomy of tasks that rely on skilled-worker experience and manual labour, including parts supply and changeovers when production models are switched, the companies will help customers address challenges such as labour shortages and skills transfer.
Overview of the Joint Validation
As an initial step, Hitachi will utilise its manufacturing facilities in the Ibaraki region as “Customer Zero” and work toward establishing the physical AI technologies required for deployment in real-world production environments by fiscal 2027. The collaboration will focus on applications such as picking parts of various shapes and performing changeovers when production items change. By combining Hitachi’s physical AI models with FANUC’s robotics and AI technologies, the companies will evaluate and improve recognition accuracy, robot motion, takt time, and quality effectiveness. The partners will also validate the effectiveness of combining Hitachi’s edge AI semiconductor with FANUC’s industrial robots.
By enabling AI to continuously learn from a wide variety of data, the companies will build mechanisms for the flexible operation of individual processes, production lines, and entire factories, with the aim of realising sustainable manufacturing environments where people and robots collaborate while leveraging their respective strengths.
Comment from Toshiaki Tokunaga, President and CEO, Hitachi, Ltd.
“Hitachi has been working to transform social infrastructure by combining AI with the domain knowledge it has accumulated at social infrastructure sites. Through this strategic partnership with FANUC, we aim to innovate manufacturing sites that support people’s lives and industries through the use of physical AI. By combining FANUC’s world-class advanced industrial robotics technologies with Hitachi’s manufacturing expertise, production-line engineering capabilities, and digital technologies, we will accelerate the implementation of Physical AI at manufacturing sites. By applying the outcomes gained through our Customer Zero initiatives and providing customers with integrated support from on-site physical AI implementation through operation and continuous improvement, we will contribute to improving productivity and quality across manufacturing operations and addressing social challenges such as labour shortages.”
Comment from Kenji Yamaguchi, President and CEO, FANUC CORPORATION
“Recent advances in AI technologies have expanded their use not only among businesses but also among consumers. Today, the practical deployment of physical AI, where AI perceives, reasons about, and acts in the physical world through robots and machines, is becoming a reality across various industries. This strategic partnership will accelerate the deployment of physical AI by combining Hitachi’s advanced AI technologies with FANUC’s highly reliable products, sophisticated control technologies, AI expertise, and extensive robotics experience.
By positioning Hitachi’s manufacturing facilities as ‘Customer Zero’, we will increase the development and deployment of practical physical AI solutions that can operate reliably in real production environments. We believe this will provide a pathway toward autonomising many production processes that manufacturers around the world face today.
Together with Hitachi, we will further expand the scope of physical AI applications and contribute to solving pressing societal challenges, including labour shortages and the transfer of skills and expertise from experienced workers to future generations.”
Background of the Strategic Partnership
As labour shortages continue to intensify worldwide, manufacturers have increasingly adopted automation systems that repeatedly perform predefined tasks under fixed conditions. However, many operations, including parts handling, machine loading, machining and assembly, product changeovers, and material transfer between processes, still require human judgement and adaptability in response to changing conditions and varying workpieces. Tasks such as picking and production line setup changes remain heavily dependent on human workers. As a result, achieving true autonomy, where machines can perceive changing situations, make decisions, and control their own actions, has become one of the most significant challenges facing the manufacturing industry today. Physical AI technologies that leverage Japan’s manufacturing strengths, including shop-floor knowledge and process-improvement capabilities essential to collecting and utilising real-world data, are expected to provide a solution.
Hitachi has cultivated operational technology (OT) and control expertise across sites in 190 countries and regions through more than 110 years of manufacturing experience. By combining high-quality products with advanced digital technologies, Hitachi promotes social innovation businesses worldwide. As a manufacturer itself, Hitachi leverages data generated from both its own and customers’ digitised manufacturing assets to advance the deployment of physical AI enhanced by deep domain knowledge.
FANUC is accelerating the deployment of physical AI by advancing AI-enabled industrial robotics and supporting open platforms that allow developers worldwide to implement sophisticated robotic control using familiar development environments. Through these initiatives, FANUC is enabling robots to perceive, evaluate, and act autonomously with high precision in real time.
By combining these complementary strengths, Hitachi and FANUC will establish Physical AI that can adapt to changing production environments, continuously perceive, learn, and optimise operations on the shop floor, and accelerate deployment across global industries through joint validation and commercialisation efforts.
