Japan Taught Robots to Walk… Now It’s Racing to Catch Up

Not that long ago, Japan was the undisputed world leader in humanoid robotics. It's where humanoids learned to walk, recognize faces and emotions, and operate safely around people.

In the Y2K era, the mainstream assumption was that the world would be full of robot helpers today and they'd mostly be Japanese. When China unveiled its first humanoid prototypes, the reaction from Japan was dismissive. There were even satirical cartoons like this mocking it.

Now in 2026, Japan, along with the rest of the world, finds itself racing to catch up with China, where hundreds of robotics firms are developing humanoids that are now entering the Japanese workforce. However, Japan's government is pushing for a robot renaissance to address what it considers an existential crisis.

The moment is spawning a new breed of humanlike machines, including the most advanced version yet of one of the country's longest running programs, born from the birthplace of humanoid experimentation.

00:01 - Intro: Can Japan Lead Again in Humanoids Robotics?
01:15 - The Origin of Tokyo Robotics
01:50 - Japan's Humanoid Robot Revolution
03:24 - Humanlike Dexterity and Manipulation
03:59 - Tokyo Robotics' Torobo Platform
04:22 - Torobo Hand, Torobo Puppet, and Torobo Eye
04:49 - Yaskawa Electric Acquisition
05:32 - Yaskawa's Big US Expansion
06:13 - Bipedal Torobo Humanoid Robot
06:43 - Training Torobo in Simulation
07:26 - New Breed of Japanese AI Robots
07:35 - Cinnamon 1 (Donut Robotics)
08:18 - Kawasaki's Kaleido 9 Humanoid Robot
10:00 - Japan's Telepresence Robots
10:13 - Ory Lab's Expansion
10:56 - Hiroshi Ishiguro's Lifelike Androids

#machine #Robotics #robot