Japanese telco SoftBank has partnered with Yaskawa to develop robots capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously.

As announced by SoftBank, the two companies have signed an MoU to pair SoftBank's AI-RAN push and Yaskawa Electric's focus on AI robotics.

Yaskawa specializes in industrial automation, including the development of industrial robots.

SoftBank and Yaskawa have developed a use case for an office-oriented Physical AI robot that integrates with building management systems and utilizes AI running on MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing).

While robots have been used to perform tasks for a number of years, SoftBank notes that this partnership with Yaskawa is unique as it focuses on robots being able to multiple tasks simultaneously.

SoftBank notes that through leveraging AI on MEC, it's possible to integrate and analyze various types of information in real time, accurately assess situations, and provide optimal instructions to robots.

The telco said that it will carry out a demonstration of this robot at the 2025 International Robot Exhibition (iREX 2025) later this week.

SoftBank noted the opportunity for AI and robotics to plug the labor shortage gap in the country, which has been worsened because of a declining birthrate and aging population.

"The use of AI and robotics is becoming increasingly important to meet these needs. However, in environments where large numbers of people move around, such as office buildings, hospitals, schools, and department stores, it has been difficult to promote automation. These conditions often require complex decision-making and flexible responses to unpredictable situations," said SoftBank.

The carrier said that, along with Yaskawa Electric, the two companies will build a domestically developed AI infrastructure and develop new solutions in the field of physical AI within Japan.

"Through this initiative, they aim to enable robots to achieve more advanced decision-making capabilities and to expand the range of tasks that robots can perform," said SoftBank.

It builds on SoftBank's focus on its development of AI-RAN. The carrier is one of the founding members of the AI RAN Alliance, a group that aims to utilize AI for the enhancement of RAN performance.