[Entering Japan] French folding technology specialist "Eclore Actuators" targets Japanese market, promotes partnerships with domestic robot manufacturers

About Eclore Actuators: Industrializing Folding Engineering

The journey of Eclore Actuators began when founder Pierre Gauthier-Le Bourch observed "folding technology" applied in space launch technology while studying at Seoul National University.

Convinced that this technology could innovate across a wide range of industries beyond space, he developed the world's first proprietary automatic folding machine and obtained a patent for its manufacturing process. In 2019, he founded Eclore in Nantes, France.

The company name, which means "blooming" in French, comes from the way complex shapes expand compactly and smartly in the natural world.

Currently, the company serves advanced technical needs in sectors such as industrial robotics, space, and defense. Eclore's know-how brings a new revolution to the manufacturing industry through the three axes of "compactness," "lightweight," and "durability."

Products for Industrial Robots: High-Performance Folding Bellows and Protective Kits

Eclore identified the durability of protective bellows as a critical challenge in industrial robots, particularly SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm) robots. From food processing to clean rooms, these robots require reliable protection of their vertical axes to maintain production environments and machine cleanliness. As traditional bellows hit limits in mechanical wear and chemical degradation, Eclore's polymer "folding bellows" propose a new industry standard that realizes unprecedented high performance.

■ Key Features of Eclore's Folding Bellows

- Extraordinary Long Life: Achieves 10 million cycles. It boasts approximately 5 times the durability compared to traditional bellows.
- High Chemical Resistance: Supports over 20 types of chemicals and cleaning agents.
- Excellent Environmental Adaptability: Covers FDA compliance, ISO Class 4 certification, and water/dust resistance up to IP69K.
- Fully Customizable: Size, mounting method, and color can be optimized to meet each customer's needs.
- Ready-to-Install Protective Kits: Deployed 23 types of protective kits compatible with models from major manufacturers (FANUC, Yaskawa, DENSO WAVE, Seiko Epson, Yamaha Motor, Omron, etc.). A solution designed for integrators that is easy to retrofit.
- Environmental Consideration: Guaranteed PFAS-free.

By introducing high-performance folding bellows, the company contributes to dramatically reducing maintenance frequency and factory operational costs.

Building Partnerships with Global Japanese Robot Manufacturers

The opening of the Tokyo representative office in December 2025 demonstrates Eclore's strong commitment to building partnerships with Japanese companies that lead the global industrial robot market. This full-scale entry into the Japanese market was realized with 3 million euros (approx. 550 million yen) in funding raised from French industrial and regional funds.

Comment from Founder and CEO Pierre Gauthier-Le Bourch: "This funding is an important milestone for Eclore Actuators. It allows us to strengthen our manufacturing system and further accelerate technological development. We are delighted to be able to offer our proprietary folding bellows technology to the Japanese robotics industry, as well as to highly demanding markets such as aerospace and defense."

■ Exhibit and Reaction at "2025 International Robot Exhibition (iREX)"

At the "2025 International Robot Exhibition (iREX)," the innovative technology from France attracted significant interest from the Japanese market. Following this reaction, specific business negotiations and long-term cooperation efforts with major domestic robot manufacturers are now rapidly progressing, centered on the Tokyo office.

Eclore's Proprietary R&D and Technology Development for Robot, Space, and Defense Markets

While Eclore's flagship product is the folding bellows for SCARA robots, the core of its business is Research and Development (R&D). The company's technical strength, with over half of its employees being engineers, is also highly valued in the space industry, where high reliability in extreme environments is required.

Specifically, the company is promoting the development of polyimide bellows for lunar rovers and orbital de-orbit arms for artificial satellites. In these projects, the European Space Agency (ESA) is a key joint development partner, and Eclore's folding technology is becoming a crucial component supporting next-generation space development.