Japanese space startup Intersteller Technologies announced earlier today that it has successfully launched a small rocket in Hokkaido this morning. The company is well known for having been co-founded and invested by Japanese renowned investor/entrepreneur Takafumi Horie a.k.a. Horiemon.
Named Momo after a Japanese alias for 100, the rocket literally succeeded to rise to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers (the startup’s twitter says it was 113.4 kilometers). It is 10 meter long and 1 ton with an diameter of 50 centimeters, has been developed by the startup from scratch. Intersteller has just become the first private company in Japan to launch a rocket into the space.
The launch was initially planned in April but was postponed due to a minor leak of liquid oxygen fuel and strong winds. This follows their second launch last year which ended in a fiery crash just after the liftoff. The startup is planning to launch another rocket in 2023, hoping to carry small satellites for lower costs.
This article was rearranged by our editorial from the original by Momoko Furukawa, Assistant to Executive/PR at TalentEx. TalentEX is a Bangkok-based startup offering a media outlet and an online platform for recruitment and human resources. All the photos in this article were taken by Tomohiro Ueno, Corporate Planning at TalentEx. See our past coverage to learn more about TalentEx. See the original story in Japanese. The Japanese Embassy in Thailand together with the CP Group (Charoen Pokphand Group), operating 7/11 convenience stores in Thailand and also owning local mobile telco giant True, held a Demo Day and matchmaking event called Rock Thailand in March, aiming to help Japanese startups and Thai conglomerates to work together. The event is part of the Open Innovation Columbus (OIC) initiative, which promotes strategic alliances between Japanese startups and Thai conglomerates. With regards to OIC-related events, this follows the DX Summit held by the Japanese Embassy in Thailand last October. The majority of Thai conglomerates do not reap the benefits of a digital economy. In Japan, large companies are moving to start digital transformation (DX) by collaborating with startups (it’s so called ‘open innovation’), while in Thailand, due to the nature of the verticals…
This article was rearranged by our editorial from the original by Momoko Furukawa, Assistant to Executive/PR at TalentEx. TalentEX is a Bangkok-based startup offering a media outlet and an online platform for recruitment and human resources.
All the photos in this article were taken by Tomohiro Ueno, Corporate Planning at TalentEx.
The Japanese Embassy in Thailand together with the CP Group (Charoen Pokphand Group), operating 7/11 convenience stores in Thailand and also owning local mobile telco giant True, held a Demo Day and matchmaking event called Rock Thailand in March, aiming to help Japanese startups and Thai conglomerates to work together. The event is part of the Open Innovation Columbus (OIC) initiative, which promotes strategic alliances between Japanese startups and Thai conglomerates. With regards to OIC-related events, this follows the DX Summit held by the Japanese Embassy in Thailand last October.
The majority of Thai conglomerates do not reap the benefits of a digital economy. In Japan, large companies are moving to start digital transformation (DX) by collaborating with startups (it’s so called ‘open innovation’), while in Thailand, due to the nature of the verticals that local startups specialize in, DX through open innovation will likely still take time.
In response to this, OIC selected a team of 10 Japanese startups that lead verticals likely to be useful for DX (AI, robotics, IoT, logistics), and that are particularly interested in advancing into Southeast Asia, including Thailand, and invited them to Bangkok. This is an attempt at targeting cross-border open innovation and focuses on using the power of Japanese startups to foster DX for Thai conglomerates.
Representatives from the 10 Japanese startups pitched in front of top executives from major corporations such as CP Group’s CEO Suphachai Chearavanont, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), major retailer TCC known for its beer brewing brand Chang, Kasikornbank, the Thai royal family-backded SCG (Siam Cement Group), and the big name in hospital management BDMS (Bangkok Dusit Medical Service). Individual consultations between representatives were also made with the goal of establishing cooperative relationships starting with a PoC (proof of concept).
A committee made up of 10 venture capitalists and media personnel from Japan who have deep knowledge of the startup scenes in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, selected the startups to participate in this first edition of the event.
The following is an introduction of the participating startups. They are introduced in the order that they pitched. The collaboration specifics were not disclosed except between the Thai conglomerates and startups, so we introduce only the comments from participating startups.
PKSHA Technology
Yugo Takino, VP of Product, PKSHA TEchnology
PKSHA Technology (TSE: 3993) develops algorithm solutions focused on natural language processing, image recognition, machine learning and deep learning technologies. The company also develops function-specific algorithm modules and provides services to use them as core functions/ sub-functions for various software/hardware. Founded by engineers and researchers who conduct algorithm research, approximately 70% of PKSHA’s engineers who have completed doctoral programs make up their team along with a collection of qualified personnel with academic expertise. PKSHA said that their resources could be used to provide services adapted to each industry such as weather and equipment maintenance.
ABEJA
Naoki Tonogi, Managing Director, ABEJA Singapore
ABEJA provides all kinds of solutions for a variety of industries using its core technology, the AI platform “ABEJA Platform”. The company uses deep learning to automatically extract feature values from accumulated big data without human intervention.
Naoki Tonogi, Managing Director of ABEJA Singapore, cited three of ABEJA’s strengths.
ABEJA can provide services for all industrial fields.
The company has developed services internationally, and has already achieved results, especially in Southeast Asia.
In addition to providing solutions with AI, the company produces its own products.
Tonogi shared the following comments regarding the company’s participation in Rock Thailand.
We were able to talk with major conglomerates including CP Group. Companies that we had already talked to said they’d like to work together, and we were able to propose approaches using AI tailored to each task such as smart factories, smart cities, smart stores to the others. Because of the back-up from the Japanese government, it seems possible to create a cooperative system for innovation with the conglomerates in Thailand, rather than receiving a simple project order from them.¥
It’s been about two years since I came to Singapore and Thailand, but over the past year or so the interest of corporate management in AI has greatly increased, and we were able to put together a number of projects with them. Based on the idea central to our company ‘implementing a fruitful world’, we would like to implement a rich society in Thailand for all the people involved in AI.
Spun off from the University of Tokyo, LPixel has a strength in image analysis for life science. The company is developing software and optimizing AI technology for image analysis in life science such as medicine, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. They continue to research and develop medical image diagnosis support using AI in cooperation with the National Cancer Center Japan and a number of other medical institutions. They have expanded into Cambridge, US to provide global services.
Yoshihiko Suenaga, Head of Overseas Strategy Division, Skydisc
Skydisc develops IoT sensor devices and services that allows users to analyze the data collected using AI. It has most often been introduced in the manufacturing industry, and contributes to creating smart factories by diagnosing abnormalities in machines, increasing yield rates, and improving the accuracy of inspections.
Masahiko Yamada, Co-founder and Managing Director, Umitron
Umitron is working on solutions for food and environmental issues by using technology for aquaculture. The company has offices in Singapore and Japan and it provides services using IoT, satellite remote sensing, and machine learning. Umitron Cell, a smart feeder recently announced by the company, allows users to feed cultured fish on schedule and monitor their appearance autonomously or remotely.
Masahiro Yamada, Co-founder and Managing Director of Umitron, shared shared the following impressions regarding participation in Rock Thailand.
I’ve participated in many matching events, but I’ve never been to an event that left me so satisfied. Top class executives from the country’s top conglomerates gathered together, the interviews were set up, and I was able to meet the people I wanted to meet, so it was really great.
I was able to talk with nearly all the conglomerates (that participated), and my first order of business is to begin discussions regarding their on-site issues. As far as business partners in Thailand, I expect there is a good chance for collaboration.
Telematic startup SmartDrive provides services to collect travel data from cars and other mobility devices and then visualize and analyze it. Their services include SmartDrive Fleet (real-time vehicle management for corporations), SmartDrive Cars (flat-rate connected cars for personal use), SmartDrive Families (monitoring of the elderly), and Public Service (mapping of dangerous areas and traffic sharing). The company has also focused on developing sensors, including drive recorders, and creating its own route for data acquisition.
Ryosuke Shimohara, VP of B2B Business, Smart Shopping
Smart Shopping is a price comparison site for daily goods and food and serves over 400,000 users. In October of last year, the company launched a new product called SmartMat, an IoT device equipped with weight sensors that enables automatic recurring orders and inventory replenishment for consumables. It is primarily desgined for corporations tand automates the task of always keeping the necessary amount of items that may be easy to forget to order. With Smart Shopping, the pre-consumption weight of the product is stored in the company’s product database and based on regular weight checks asks the user to authorize purchases when the remaining weight is low.
Ryosuke Shimohara, VP of B2B Business, Smart Shopping, shared the following comments about participating in Rock Thailand.
For WHA, a big name in Thai industrial parks and rental warehouses, we were able to propose added value for logistics facilities, solutions for their factory customers, and supply chain optimization using Smartmats. For the CP Group, Singha (beer brand), and Siam Makro (Thailand’s answer to Costco), we were able to propose the introduction of an automatic recurring ordering solution for retail stores using SmartMats. We hope this will lead to the acquisition of large customers when developing business in Thailand, and lead to partnerships in Southeast Asia, including Thailand.
Ground
Takatsugu Kobayashi, Chief Data Officer and Head of Global Innovation, Ground
Ground provides logistics solutions with “Intelligent Logistics” as its company slogan. Starting with picking operations in warehouses, the company has built a platform combining robots and AI software to optimize logistics.
Problems that companies often encounter include too many options for consumers, consumers becoming easily bored, and the inability to detect consumer behavior in advance (such as cancellations). Ground uses machine learning based on a customer database that can identify consumers’ behavior. Then, based on demand forecasts, it predicts the number of products to be made and the number of sales, and aims to improve the efficiency of all logistics operations.
Takatsugu Kobayashi, Chief Data Officer and Head of Global Innovation, Ground shared his impressions of participating in Rock Thailand.
We talked with several conglomerates, but we are especially considering whether we can provide solutions to the CP Group, Kasikornbank, and WHA. We believe that we can accelerate the development of our company’s AI logistics software ‘DyAS’ and aim for early market-in to Thailand.
For startups that offer both hardware and software like ours, both the speed and scale axes are required–more so than regular startups. In terms of business expansion, if you don’t take the three big steps PoV (Proof of Value) > PoC (Proof of Concept) > PoB (Proof of Business), it is very difficult. In that sense, business development in mature markets tends to be expensive for explanation and introduction costs, and startups with weak capital capabilities are likely to struggle.
However, after talking with the representatives from the conglomerates, such concerns have been lowered. I felt like in the current age we cannot compete overseas (especially with Amazon and Alibaba) if we don’t market-in early (in Thailand) and support reverse innovation in Japan.
Souco
Kunehito Nakahara, Founder and CEO, Souco
Souco is a logistics sharing platform that has built an online database of warehouses and matches companies that want to lend warehouses with those that would like to rent them. The company simplified the procedures necessary to complete before using the space and made it easy to begin using warehouses with a “small lot” for a “short period” in 3 days minimum from the application date. Since the service launch, user growth has been steady and registered users have reached more than 300 companies.
Hacobu offers a shared logistics platform called Movo. Thanks to the cloud and hardware such as the IoT devices managing moving vehicles, the company solves problems like vehicle dispatch (as an integrated logistics management solution, solves the problem of the difficulty of finding trucks to dispatch), operation management (solves the problem of not knowing location information of the trucks), and berth management (solves the problem of using trucks efficiently because of waiting time).
From left: Polapatr Suvarnazorn (SVP, Thai Beverage), Takatsugu Kobayashi (Ground Chief Data Officer and Head of Global Innovation, Ground), Naoki Tonogi (Managing Director, Abeja Singapore)
Following their pitches, there was a networking opportunity where talks about collaborations between Thai conglomerates and Japanese startups were lively. Thai executives also had positive comments to share about joining Rock Thailand.
Pichairat Jiranunrat, Director of Robotics AI & Intelligent Solution at PTT, says:
Thailand has long established good relationships with Japan and Japanese companies, and I think of Japan as a “good friend”. Based on this trust, perhaps we can create something even more new?
I felt that it’s important to incorporate technology (like that introduced today) into our company.
Yojiro Koshi (center), CEO of TalentEX, also also participated in the networking party.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Kazuhiro Aoyagi, the founder and CEO of Ignition Point, announced the establishment of a startup fund called BlueGoats Capital today. The fund size is set to be 300 to 500 million yen (about $2.7 million to $4.5 million). It will offers 1 to 50 million yen (about $8,900 to $450,000) per investment in Japanese startups in their pre-seed or seed round. Additionally, it will also introduce Japanese large funds to foreign startups seeking series B funding and join the round as a minority investor. The firm targets so-called ‘XTech (cross-tech) Field’, which applies new technologies into conventional real businesses. Obviously named after the founder’s name – Aoyagi consisting of Ao (blue) and Yagi (goats), the fund was also influenced by the English words of ‘Greatest of All Time’. He had been giving advice to entrepreneurs about incorporation or scaling-up of their business. In these processes, he has sometimes invested as an angel investor in some of them out of those like Synapse, the developer of the platform driving potential customers to online travel agencies. But he finally decided to expand his investment activity by forming the fund. Ignition Point had found various kinds of…
Kazuhiro Aoyagi, the founder and CEO of Ignition Point, announced the establishment of a startup fund called BlueGoats Capital today. The fund size is set to be 300 to 500 million yen (about $2.7 million to $4.5 million). It will offers 1 to 50 million yen (about $8,900 to $450,000) per investment in Japanese startups in their pre-seed or seed round. Additionally, it will also introduce Japanese large funds to foreign startups seeking series B funding and join the round as a minority investor. The firm targets so-called ‘XTech (cross-tech) Field’, which applies new technologies into conventional real businesses.
Obviously named after the founder’s name – Aoyagi consisting of Ao (blue) and Yagi (goats), the fund was also influenced by the English words of ‘Greatest of All Time’. He had been giving advice to entrepreneurs about incorporation or scaling-up of their business. In these processes, he has sometimes invested as an angel investor in some of them out of those like Synapse, the developer of the platform driving potential customers to online travel agencies. But he finally decided to expand his investment activity by forming the fund.
Ignition Point had found various kinds of business in a short period; the Secual smart security startup, the LEARNie online English conversation lesson for kids, the Pontely free DNA test for pet shop dogs, and the DANX on-demand eating and drinking service using food trucks. BlueGoats has no capital relationship with Ignition Point, but Aoyagi’s deep insight and experience about startups and business management will be surely shared with the firm’s portfolio companies.
BlueGoats Capital says that it may make Ignition Point’s office space Spark 2045 or the Point Edge creative studio in Shibuya available to the new fund’s portfolio companies.
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. One Visa (formerly Residence), the Japanese startup that helps companies streamline visa management for their foreign employees, announced in a press conference held in Tokyo that it has partnered with Credit Saison (TSE:8253) and Fuji Xerox System Service. Credit Saison will issue credit cards for foreigners while Fuji Xerox System Service will work with government offices to offer pre-filled application forms for official documents. In the past, it was difficult for credit companies to obtain the latest information on the addresses and status of work of foreign national users, so there were problems in issuing credit cards to them. Through the collaboration with Credit Saison and by linking the visa information of One Visa users, companies using One Visa can detect when the foreign national user joins or leaves a company in real time as well as the latest information regarding visa renewals, the result being a smoother process for issuing a credit card. Additionally, with the support of Fuji Xerox System Service, One Visa will allow their users to get a pre-filled application for an official certificate by linking with the information from their visa application documents. The format of documents differs depending…
Albert Okamura explains how One Visa can help immigrant workers. Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese.
One Visa (formerly Residence), the Japanese startup that helps companies streamline visa management for their foreign employees, announced in a press conference held in Tokyo that it has partnered with Credit Saison (TSE:8253) and Fuji Xerox System Service. Credit Saison will issue credit cards for foreigners while Fuji Xerox System Service will work with government offices to offer pre-filled application forms for official documents.
In the past, it was difficult for credit companies to obtain the latest information on the addresses and status of work of foreign national users, so there were problems in issuing credit cards to them. Through the collaboration with Credit Saison and by linking the visa information of One Visa users, companies using One Visa can detect when the foreign national user joins or leaves a company in real time as well as the latest information regarding visa renewals, the result being a smoother process for issuing a credit card.
Additionally, with the support of Fuji Xerox System Service, One Visa will allow their users to get a pre-filled application for an official certificate by linking with the information from their visa application documents. The format of documents differs depending on each local authority, but Fuji Xerox System Service is currently in the process of standardizing the format for the 23 wards in Tokyo and in Yokohama City where the population of foreign nationals is particularly large.
The new building at the One Visa Education Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
In preparation for the revision of the immigration control laws that will go into effect on April 1st and created the new “special skills” visa requiring Japanese language ability, the company created a Japanese learning environment called the One Visa Education Center. The first center was established in September of last year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and it is promoting a Japanese language learning business for overseas personnel in cooperation with Kansai University’s Ikeda Laboratory.
In partnership with Seven Bank in December of last year, the company established a system that makes it possible for foreign employees to obtain a bank account almost immediately upon arrival in Japan by linking it with their visa information. Previously this has taken upwards of six months post arrival. (This system will launch on April 1st with the introduction of the new residence status, but it will take some more time until the first user comes in.)
One Visa was initially launched as a service helping companies streamline visa acquisition and management for their immigrant employees. With the expansion of its service lineup to include education (One Visa Education), employment referral (One Visa Work), One Visa (visa acquisition and management), and One Visa Connect (living support), it will become possible to provide extensive support for foreign workers, from working to living or other every aspect of their whole lives.
One Visa Co-founder and CEO Alberto Okamura Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Okamura himself has worked for the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa, Tokyo and had a hand in issuing visas for some 30,000 foreigners. More than 400 companies have introduced it since the beta launch in June 2017. The company graduated from the 4th batch of Recruit’s Tech Lab Paak accelerator, and came in 4th place at IVS 2017 Spring Kobe’s LaunchPad. In June of 2017 it raised 36 million yen (about $324,000 US) from Primal Capital and Skyland Ventures in a seed round.
Translated by Amanda Imaksaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based A.L.I. Technologies (formerly known as Aerial Lab Industries) gave the press a demonstration of the prototype of its hoverbike named Speeder today. This was the first tine to show the hoverbike capable of flying with a person while the company showcased a mock-up of it at press conference announcing the establishment of Drone Fund’s No.2 fund last year. Since the company thinks that it requires some time to realize a manned drone due to undeveloped legal system, it first aims the practical application of a hoverbike that can run on public roads floating in the air. They are currently in negotiation with tjhe Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the National Police Agency about the possible permission to ride a hoverbike with both a medium-sized motorcycle license and a drone license. The company also expects to ask purchasers of Speeder to get a lecture or training in advance at an authorized drone school for the consideration of safety. In the demonstration, they showed the hoverbike’s various functions working properly: altitude control by ultrasonic sensor, auto-attitude control by IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), buoyancy control by duct effect / ground effect as…
Tokyo-based A.L.I. Technologies (formerly known as Aerial Lab Industries) gave the press a demonstration of the prototype of its hoverbike named Speeder today. This was the first tine to show the hoverbike capable of flying with a person while the company showcased a mock-up of it at press conference announcing the establishment of Drone Fund’s No.2 fund last year.
Since the company thinks that it requires some time to realize a manned drone due to undeveloped legal system, it first aims the practical application of a hoverbike that can run on public roads floating in the air. They are currently in negotiation with tjhe Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the National Police Agency about the possible permission to ride a hoverbike with both a medium-sized motorcycle license and a drone license. The company also expects to ask purchasers of Speeder to get a lecture or training in advance at an authorized drone school for the consideration of safety.
Speeder, A.L.I.Technologies’ hoverbike under development Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
In the demonstration, they showed the hoverbike’s various functions working properly: altitude control by ultrasonic sensor, auto-attitude control by IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), buoyancy control by duct effect / ground effect as well as braking system. This prototype mounts a generic but customized engine but the detailed specification including how much power output it has was not disclosed.
A.L.I. Technologies starts taking orders for Limited Edition of Speeder Standard Model (only 100 will be sold) in early May while the finished product will be delivered in the first half of 2021. The expected price is $80,000 to $120,000. No down payment of deposit is needed but the firm plans to conduct pre-purchase examination for purchasers including license possession status in order to prevent the abuse of the product.
A.L.I. Technologies also plans to produce Speeder Sports Model targeting high-end users (the expected price is $300,000 to $500,000), although the production volume is still to be fixed. As for the mass production type of Speeder following Limited Edition, it will work using electric motors without gasoline engine and propeller but the company has not disclosed about how they will make it float in the air. In the demonstration event, Shuhei Komatsu (Chirman, A.L.I. Technologies), Kotaro Chiba (General Partner, Drone Fund / Managing Director & Investor, A.L.I. Technologies ) and Soichiro Imaeda (member of the House of Representatives, Diet Members Caucus supporting Drone Business) celebrated the hoverbike has stepped into the new development phase.
L to R: Kotaro Chiba (General Partner, Drone Fund / Managing Director, A.L.I. Technologies), Soichiro Imaeda (Member of the House of Representatives, Japan / Executive Director, Diet Members Caucus supporting Drone Business), Shuhei Komatsu (Chairman, A.L.I. Technologies) and Daisuke Kataoka (CEO, A.L.I. Technologies) Image credit: Masaru Ikeda
Translated by Taijiro Takeda Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese telexistence robotics startup Gitai (formerly MacroSpace) announced today that it has appointed humanoid scientist/engineer and former Founder/CEO of Schaft Yuto Nakanishi as COO. Schaft was founded back in 2012 and subsequently secured funding from TomyK and Tsuneishi Partners. It won the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge trials in 2013, and was later acquired by Google (name at the time of acquisition). Since then, Schaft had been developing robots at a new technology development company called X (formerly Google X) operating under Google’s stock holding company Alphabet, but the Schaft project shut down in November of last year. Gitai was initially focused on the telexistence technology which connects an operator and a robot in two different locations. Since its participation in the 9th batch of the Tech Lab Paak accelerator in 2017, it appears the company has been trying to shift the business to the space sector. The cost of operating the International Space Station (ISS) tops several trillion yen or more worldwide, with Japan supplying several hundred billion yen or more of the cumulative total. Around half of the cost comes from training astronauts, their travel between the Earth…
The Gitai Team – Back row, third person from the right: CEO Sho Nakanose ; front row, middle: COO Yuto Nakanishi Image credit: Gitai
Japanese telexistence robotics startup Gitai (formerly MacroSpace) announced today that it has appointed humanoid scientist/engineer and former Founder/CEO of Schaft Yuto Nakanishi as COO.
Gitai was initially focused on the telexistence technology which connects an operator and a robot in two different locations. Since its participation in the 9th batch of the Tech Lab Paak accelerator in 2017, it appears the company has been trying to shift the business to the space sector.
Yuto Nakanishi
The cost of operating the International Space Station (ISS) tops several trillion yen or more worldwide, with Japan supplying several hundred billion yen or more of the cumulative total. Around half of the cost comes from training astronauts, their travel between the Earth and the ISS, and transporting the necessary items to maintain life on the ISS.
As astronauts are human, the amount of time spent performing tasks and the range of such activities are limited, and since we cannot ignore the effects of weightlessness and space radiation, astronauts who reach a certain period of time on their mission must return to Earth. Additionally, a variety of tests are conducted on the ISS; however, there are limits to carrying out these experiments in each field and all alone as each astronaut specializes in different fields.
If robots can be sent to the ISS and remotely controlled from Earth, it is possible to reduce the number of astronauts sent. If the ISS robot operators work in shifts, experts in all fields are able to carry out their experiments remotely, all day, every day. If robots can replace some of the extremely costful industries being employed, perhaps there is room to turn this into a business. It seems Sho Nakanose, Founder & CEO of Gitai, thought so.
With the Trump administration in the US announcing a policy shift in the operation of the ISS to the private sector (from NASA to space startups), the US has seen a remarkable increase in the momentum of space startups. Following the US movement to contribute 80% of the ISS operating costs, Japan is also looking for ways to cooperate with space startups through JAXA, one example being the ISS experimental module “Kibou”.
Nakanose says,
For example, let’s say that the ISS mission, which had cost 40 billion yen so far, has to be able to operate on 4 billion yen. In this case, even if a robot is a bit expensive, we can look at it as a cost reduction tool for the entire mission, so the robot’s cost would be acceptable. […]
It may still take awhile for robots to operate autonomously, but if we can provide telexistence with detailed, high-definition but low-latency video and operability, it should be valuable enough.
Whether it is robots for businesses, or robots for consumers, an overwhelming reduction in cost is needed to bring it to the level of mass production that could cope with the widespread use of robots. As a matter of fact, this is probably the reason behind X’s abandoning Schaft’s operations. In contrast, a robot using telexistence for space missions would be able to make enough money for startups to continue doing business for as long as there is a demand.
6th prototype robot Image credit: Gitai
Nakanishi added,
The main focus for Google’s development of Schaft was to turn it into a business. Because we focused on how to do business with a bipedal robot, in order to do that we focused on the themes of low cost, low power consumption, and full autonomy. […]
Lower cost means that the profit rate for each robot is also lower, which makes mass production necessary, but it is still going to take time for a fully autonomous robot to reach the market. Google allowed me to do it for five years, and I feel like I took it as far as I could, but after reaching this conclusion I decided to move on.
Contrary to Nakanishi’s previous dealings in the world of cost consciousness, in the space robot market companies can make a profit by selling just one. Furthermore, since there is no requirement to be fully automatic from the beginning, Nakanishi judged Gitai as the place where he can make the most use of his knowledge as a humanoid engineer. According to him, the hardware and software for fully autonomous robots are still unable to keep up with the the abilities of humans and the speed of human movement.
Nakanishi continued,
As a robot researcher, if someone else is able to do this, I feel like I don’t want to admit it (laughs). But, if there is a place where you can accomplish what you want and get paid to do it, well, that’s the best. (If it’s not completely autonomous) Many people may place blame on it but you’d better ignore them (laughs). I want to produce a robot that can actually be used.
Nakanishi has been developing a robot that mimics the motions of the lower half of the human body at Schaft. But now he will work to produce a robot that produces movements as similar as possible to those of the upper human body at Gitai. The day when the technologies developed by the same humanoid scientist at different startups go on to be acquired by Google, uniting the upper and lower bodies in real life, may not be just a dream.
Gitai has enrolled several engineers from the Univesity of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Information Engineering, Nakanishi’s alma mater, such as CTO Toyotaka Kozuki (former mechanical engineer at Japanese personal mobility startup Whill) along with VP of Software Development Ryohei Ueda (formerly software engineer at Schaft). Gitai has transformed almost imperceptibly into an assembly point for some of the world’s top robotics authorities.
Gitai raised 15 million yen (about $134K US) from Skyland Ventures in a seed round in September 2016, and then raised $1.25 million US from ANRI and 500 Startups Japan (at that time) in a seed round in December 2017.
Translated by Amanda Imasaka Edited by Masaru Ikeda
Masaru Ikeda
The Bridge
