- Japan plans to install 10 million extra robots before 2040 arrives
- Nursing homes and food factories are at the center of the expansion
- Noetra will provide the AI ​​foundation that powers future Japanese robots nationwide
Japan has unveiled a revised national robotics plan that aims to introduce around 10 million robots into the country by 2040.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa announced the plan, which now spans 18 fields after adding food production and medical treatment to previous priorities.
The government intends to move quickly to establish a core AI robotics hub that will support deployment, research and workforce training activities across the country.
Robots move across the factory floor
Officials described the hub as central to helping businesses adopt robots on a large scale in the coming years, particularly in sectors already struggling with staff shortages.
The strategy centers on Noetra, a domestically produced multimodal foundation model developed in conjunction with a National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology project focused on physical AI.
Noetra is majority-owned by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group and Honda, while Fujitsu and Rakuten are reportedly still considering whether to join the consortium.
Akazawa said accumulated data from elderly care, disaster preparedness, manufacturing sites and the Fukushima Daiichi shutdown effort substantiates the government’s confidence in the approach.
The “use of accumulated data” would become Japan’s “winning strategy,” he said, framing the global competition as a contest for available data sets rather than raw computing power alone.
The government plans to build data infrastructure for physical AI and robots that reflect the country’s own industrial strengths.
It will draw on decades of experience operating machinery in hazardous or low-labor environments across the country.
International partnerships and regional ambitions
Officials have confirmed a collaboration agreement with research institutions in the US, Canada, France and the UK to support the development of the base model.
The resulting technology will reportedly be made widely available to Japanese AI developers, companies and eventual users across multiple industries and regions.
According to officials briefed on the plan, some companies are expected to use the platform as a basis for expanding into foreign markets in later years.
The minister also linked the strategy to a broader effort to encourage AI-driven transformation originating from regional areas outside Japan’s major metropolitan centers, rather than concentrating growth in Tokyo alone.
Japan’s aging population and restrictive migration policies continue to create labor shortages across industries struggling to recruit sufficient numbers of workers.
Politicians increasingly see automation as a practical answer because many vacancies remain difficult to fill through conventional hiring alone.
Proponents often argue that robots fill roles unavailable to human workers, rather than directly replacing existing employees across industries.
The revised strategy therefore includes medical responsibilities alongside tasks in food production and beverage manufacturing environments across the country.
South Korea announced a comparable robotics ambition this week, adding a competitive dimension to the broader regional picture as both countries pursue superior AI capabilities.
Whether these ambitions materialize may depend less on announcements than on sustained investment, technical advances and broader public acceptance domestically.
Via the registry
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