Mitsubishi Motors and Highlanders Sign MOU to Develop Humanoid Robots for Manufacturing
Mitsubishi Motors and Tokyo startup Highlanders will jointly develop humanoid robots for use in Mitsubishi's factories and explore mass production at its Kyoto Plant.
2026
2027
What Happened
Mitsubishi Motors and Highlanders, a University of Tokyo startup, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on humanoid robots. The partnership aims to establish a new industrial foundation where humans and robots work together, addressing labor shortages and the need for flexible manufacturing systems.
Mitsubishi Motors and Highlanders sign MOU to collaborate on humanoid robots.
Target to examine feasibility of mass-producing Highlanders' humanoid robots at Mitsubishi Motors' Kyoto Plant.
As a first step, Mitsubishi Motors plans to deploy humanoid robots at its own manufacturing facilities to accumulate operational data and deepen expertise in humanoid robotics. This practical use will help evaluate opportunities for future development and production.
In parallel, Mitsubishi Motors will leverage its mass-production engineering, quality assurance, and mechatronics expertise to explore producing Highlanders' humanoid robots. The companies will examine using currently unused buildings at Mitsubishi Motors' Kyoto Plant, with a target to start production as early as 2027.
“Our collaboration with Highlanders represents a challenge aimed at building a new industrial foundation in which humans and robots work together. At the same time, it provides Mitsubishi Motors with a valuable opportunity to deepen our technological and business expertise in the field of humanoid robotics.”
“We believe that achieving mass production of domestically developed humanoid robots through this partnership with Mitsubishi Motors, which brings decades of manufacturing expertise, represents a significant step toward achieving this goal.”
Why this matters
This collaboration addresses Japan's manufacturing labor shortage by introducing humanoid robots that can work alongside humans. Mitsubishi Motors gains robotics expertise and operational data, while Highlanders gets a path to mass production. The partnership could set a precedent for automakers adopting humanoid robots in factories.
Terms in This Story
- MOU
- Memorandum of Understanding: a document outlining an agreement between two parties before a formal contract is signed.
- Humanoid robot
- A robot with a body shape resembling a human, designed to perform tasks in environments built for people.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.