Keigan Co., Ltd. Selected for AIRoA's "Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition"

Keigan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto Prefecture; Representative Director: Takashi Tokuda; hereinafter referred to as "Keigan") is pleased to announce its selection for the "Domestic General-Purpose Robot Development Competition" organized by the General Incorporated Association AI Robot Association (AIRoA) (conducted as part of a NEDO commissioned project*). This competition is implemented with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of Japan's robot industry, and Keigan will commence the development and manufacturing of a prototype dual-arm mobile manipulator from March 2026.

■ Outline of Selection

Keigan has accumulated technology in the robot and motion fields over many years through the development and manufacturing of its servo motor "KeiganMotor" and the development and sales of its autonomous mobile robot "KeiganALI". Leveraging these technological assets, Keigan will take on the challenge of developing a domestic general-purpose robot, with its strength lying in its ability to develop everything from actuators to control software in-house.

■ About the Robot to be Developed

The robot Keigan will develop and manufacture is a dual-arm mobile manipulator (prototype).

For development, Keigan will be joined by Associate Professor Atsushi Kakogawa from Ritsumeikan University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Robotics, Actuation Laboratory, as a technical advisor to promote the advancement of actuator design and control technology, and robot design and control technology. Keigan has a track record of working on the prototyping and R&D of robot arms, having conducted joint research with Ritsumeikan University in fiscal year 2019 under the NEDO New Technology and Application Development Program for New Industrial Creation, titled "Development of Mechanical Contact-Based Robot Technology for Realizing Multi-skilled Robots." This competition is also positioned as an initiative to develop these research outcomes into social implementation.

■ Schedule

*The schedule for the improvement and mass production periods after September 2026 may change depending on the results of AIRoA's evaluation, which will be conducted upon transition to each period based on evaluation results.

■ Comment

Representative Director Takashi Tokuda

"Since its founding, Keigan has handled hardware and software as an integrated unit, from in-house production of motor modules to mass production and on-site deployment of autonomous mobile robots. It is a great honor to be able to challenge the development of a dual-arm mobile manipulator as the culmination of this technology. At this time when general-purpose robots are approaching practical application, we will work as a unified team to play a part in this with domestic technology. We hope to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of Japan's robot industry through this project."

■ About Keigan Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2016 in Kyoto Prefecture, Keigan is a robotics company. With the philosophy of "Quick and Easy Robot for Everyone," the company aims to contribute to society by providing many people with a mechanism to create robots that are useful to people surprisingly easily and instantaneously. The Motor Module® KeiganMotor series is used in automation in automobile factories, as well as in R&D departments of companies and universities. The autonomous mobile robot KeiganALI is used for inter-process transport in factories, as well as in restaurants and logistics sites.

Corporate Website: https://www.keigan.co.jp/

KeiganALI Website: https://www.keigan-ali.com/

KeiganMotor Website: https://keigan-motor.com/

X: https://twitter.com/KEIGAN_PR

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keigan/

*This competition is conducted by the General Incorporated Association AI Robot Association (AIRoA) as part of the commissioned project "Development of Data Platform for Development of Generative AI Foundation Models in Robotics Field" under the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) commissioned project "Post-5G Information Communication System Foundation Strengthening R&D Project / Robotics Field.".