Upstage, JTEKT, and Karakuri Launch Physical AI Proof-of-Concept Project — Selected for AWS Japan Support Program
Upstage, JTEKT, and Karakuri have been selected for the 'Physical AI Development Support Program by AWS Japan.' The three companies will collaborate to verify the potential of physical AI in manufacturing, aiming to implement autonomous and adaptive production systems using technologies like VLA and Sim2Real.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 7, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 7, 2026 at 10:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 20, 2026 at 23:53 (325h 22m after Collected)
Tokyo, April 7, 2026 — Global AI company Upstage AI Corp. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Hiroyuki Matsushita; hereinafter "Upstage") announced that it, along with JTEKT Corporation—a major company in the Toyota Group and a machinery/auto parts manufacturer—and Karakuri Inc., a Japanese company developing multimodal AI, has been selected for the "Physical AI Development Support Program by AWS Japan" hosted by AWS. Through their selection in this program, the three companies will verify the potential of utilizing physical AI in the manufacturing industry and aim for the social implementation of autonomous and adaptive production systems.
### About the Joint Development by the Three Companies
In this program, the three companies aim to realize a transition to autonomous and adaptive production systems at JTEKT factories through the following approaches:
Utilization of Vision Language Action (VLA)
By comprehensively learning and inferring images, language, and actions using multimodal generative AI, they will realize the automation and optimization of complex manufacturing processes.
Reduction of Prototyping Costs through High-Speed Learning in Virtual Space (Sim2Real)
By transferring learning results from simulation environments to real environments, they will significantly reduce AI model development costs and prototyping periods.
Capitalizing on Field Data and Making it AI-Ready
They will convert the diverse and highly accurate data accumulated in JTEKT's factories into a format that AI can utilize to the fullest, building dedicated models based on field data.
### Why Physical AI Now?
While Japan's manufacturing industry is one of the most advanced in the world, it faces structural challenges such as labor shortages due to a rapidly aging and shrinking population, and the increasing complexity of passing down skills from experienced workers. Physical AI has the potential to evolve production systems into something more autonomous, resilient, and highly productive by realizing machines that can learn from actual field data and adapt to changing environments.
### Roles of Each Company
In this program, Upstage will use its unique...
### About the Joint Development by the Three Companies
In this program, the three companies aim to realize a transition to autonomous and adaptive production systems at JTEKT factories through the following approaches:
Utilization of Vision Language Action (VLA)
By comprehensively learning and inferring images, language, and actions using multimodal generative AI, they will realize the automation and optimization of complex manufacturing processes.
Reduction of Prototyping Costs through High-Speed Learning in Virtual Space (Sim2Real)
By transferring learning results from simulation environments to real environments, they will significantly reduce AI model development costs and prototyping periods.
Capitalizing on Field Data and Making it AI-Ready
They will convert the diverse and highly accurate data accumulated in JTEKT's factories into a format that AI can utilize to the fullest, building dedicated models based on field data.
### Why Physical AI Now?
While Japan's manufacturing industry is one of the most advanced in the world, it faces structural challenges such as labor shortages due to a rapidly aging and shrinking population, and the increasing complexity of passing down skills from experienced workers. Physical AI has the potential to evolve production systems into something more autonomous, resilient, and highly productive by realizing machines that can learn from actual field data and adapt to changing environments.
### Roles of Each Company
In this program, Upstage will use its unique...