Japanese Robot Manufacturers
11 companies in the ZeroGantry manufacturer directory.
Japan built the modern industrial robot industry. Kawasaki produced the country's first industrial robot under license from Unimation in 1969, and FANUC, Yaskawa, Nachi, DENSO, Epson and Mitsubishi Electric became global leaders in arms, SCARA robots and motion control.
Japanese makers are known for reliability, long product support lifecycles and deep controller and servo expertise, and many make their own motors, reducers and drives. The country also has a long history in humanoids and entertainment robots, from Honda's ASIMO and Toyota's T-HR3 to Sony's aibo.
The companies below are headquartered in Japan. Many run large US subsidiaries, and several brands have independent service providers in our US repair directory.
By robot type
- Industrial robots: 9
- Cobots: 7
- Humanoids: 2
- Service & consumer robots: 2
- Autonomous mobile robots: 1
- Quadrupeds: 1
Japanese Robot Manufacturers
- DENSO Wave — founded 2001 · owned by DENSO Corporation — Robotics and automatic-identification subsidiary of automotive supplier DENSO.
- Epson Robots — founded 1942 · 6724.T — Robotics business of Seiko Epson and a leading maker of SCARA robots, which it first built for its own watch and printer assembly lines.
- FANUC — founded 1972 · 6954.T — One of the world's largest industrial robot makers, with a very large installed base of arms in automotive, electronics and general industry.
- Kawasaki Robotics — founded 1896 · 7012.T — Robot division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which built Japan's first industrial robot in 1969 under license from Unimation.
- Mitsubishi Electric — founded 1921 · 6503.T — Japanese electrical and factory-automation conglomerate that sells MELFA industrial robots alongside its PLCs, servos and CNC controls, letting integrators build cells on a single control ecosystem.
- Nachi-Fujikoshi — founded 1928 · 6474.T — Japanese maker of industrial robots, bearings, cutting tools and hydraulics.
- OMRON — founded 1933 · 6645.T — Japanese industrial-automation company that expanded into robotics by acquiring US robot maker Adept Technology in 2015.
- Sony — founded 1946 · SONY — Japanese electronics and entertainment group whose aibo robot dog, first launched in 1999 and relaunched in 2018, is one of the best-known consumer robots.
- Toyota — founded 1937 · 7203.T — The Japanese automaker runs long-standing humanoid and assistive robot programs through its partner-robot division and the Toyota Research Institute, including the T-HR3 teleoperated humanoid and the Human Support Robot.
- Yamaha Motor Robotics — founded 1955 · 7272.T — Factory-automation arm of Yamaha Motor, making SCARA robots, single-axis and Cartesian robots, and linear conveyor modules used in electronics and small-parts assembly.
- Yaskawa (Motoman) — founded 1915 · 6506.T — Japanese motion-control and robotics company that sells robots under the Motoman brand.
Related countries
- US Robot Manufacturers — 28 companies
- Chinese Robot Manufacturers — 31 companies
- German Robot Manufacturers — 5 companies