AI Venture TAI and Kyoto's Watakyu HD Form Capital and Business Alliance

Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Inc. (Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Representative Director, President, CEO & CTO: Hiroki Nakahara; hereinafter: "TAI") announces that it has formed a capital and business alliance with Watakyu Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture; Representative Director, President: Kiyokazu Murata; hereinafter: "Watakyu Holdings").

Both companies have been promoting a joint project aimed at solving the labor shortage faced by the linen supply industry by replacing the skills of skilled workers with physical AI and promoting factory automation.

This alliance was formed with the aim of further building and strengthening a medium- to long-term cooperative relationship and expanding business into the medical and nursing care fields, as expectations for significant results in on-site implementation have increased.

◾️ Background of this Alliance

In linen supply production sites, it was indispensable for "people" to perform tasks to instantly judge the "fluctuations" in the texture and shape of fabric products according to their unique characteristics and sizes, and to process them appropriately.

However, similar to other industries, the recent severe labor shortage has made the question of how to maintain and continue a production system based on human labor an urgent management issue.

Against this background, a joint project was launched to combine Watakyu Holdings' on-site knowledge with TAI's physical AI technology to promote the mechanization of production lines that previously had to rely on human hands.

◾️ Achievements and Future Developments of the Joint Project

Through previous demonstration experiments and development, practical results in individual recognition of fabric products by AI and mechanical control have been confirmed. Through this alliance, we will not only accelerate the mechanization and automation of linen supply factories but also expand the non-standardized object handling technology cultivated there to improve operations in the medical and nursing care fields, which face similar challenges.

◾️ Representative Comments

Kiyokazu Murata, Representative Director, President, Watakyu Holdings Co., Ltd.

The linen supply processes that our company has cultivated over many years have been supported by the delicate senses of human hands.

In an era where labor shortages are unavoidable, TAI's physical AI technology has become a hope for our company, which is suffering from labor shortages. Taking this alliance as an opportunity, we will complete productivity improvements through automation and challenge ourselves to provide new value to medical and nursing care sites beyond that.

Hiroki Nakahara, Representative Director, President, CEO & CTO, Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Inc.

Handling materials with irregular shapes, such as fabric products, has been the most difficult task in AI and robotics. By fusing Watakyu Holdings' advanced on-site knowledge with our physical AI, we have been able to create practical results in automating tasks that were previously considered impossible. Through this alliance, we will contribute to solving the challenges of not only linen supply but also all labor-intensive industries in Japan.

◾️ Watakyu Holdings Company Profile

・Company Name: Watakyu Holdings Co., Ltd.

・Representative Director, President: Kiyokazu Murata

・Established: April 30, 2021

・Location: Karasuma City Core Building 7F, 707 Yakushimae-cho, Karasuma-dori Takatsuji-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture

・Business Activities: Management of group companies' business activities and related operations.

Group companies' businesses include: linen supply and general outsourcing services for medical and nursing care facilities and hotels, contracted meal service operations, management of insurance dispensing pharmacies, rental and sales of welfare equipment, general construction, and human resource introduction, dispatch, and contracting businesses specializing in medical and welfare personnel.

・Company Website: https://www.watakyu.jp/

◾️ Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Company Profile

・Company Name: Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Inc.

・Representative Director, President, CEO & CTO: Hiroki Nakahara

・Established: March 3, 2020

・Location: Shin-Yokohama Square Building 14F, 2-3-12 Shin-Yokohama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture

・Business Activities: Research and development of deep learning algorithms, development and sales of edge AI products, and training of AI expert engineers.

・Company Website: https://tokyo-ai.tech/