Japan has unveiled a revised national robotics strategy which aims to introduce around 10 million robots in the country by 2040.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa announced the plan, which now spans 18 fields after adding food manufacturing and medical care to earlier priorities.

The government intends to move quickly to establish a core AI robotics hub, supporting deployment, research, and workforce training activities across the country.

Robots move beyond the factory floor
Officials described the hub as central to helping companies adopt robots at scale over the coming years, particularly in sectors already struggling with staff shortages.

The strategy centres on Noetra, a domestically produced multimodal foundation model developed alongside 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 weighing whether to join the consortium.

Akazawa said accumulated data from elderly care, disaster response, manufacturing sites and the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning effort underpins the government’s confidence in the approach.

“The utilization of accumulated data” would become Japan’s “winning strategy,” he said, framing global competition as a contest over accessible datasets rather than raw computing power alone.

The government plans to build data infrastructure for physical AI and robots that reflects the country’s own industrial strengths.

It will lean on decades of experience operating machinery in hazardous or labour-scarce environments nationwide.

Officials have confirmed a collaborative arrangement with research institutions in the US, Canada, France and the UK to support development of the base model.

The resulting technology will reportedly be made available widely to Japanese AI developers, businesses and eventual users across multiple industries and regions.

Read More: Japan plans to introduce 10 million robots by 2040 to address labor shortages