Daifuku targets 2030 humanoid demo, says CEO Terai

Daifuku has built its logistics business around carrying and storing goods for factories, warehouses and airports, with intra-logistics handling the storage and transport systems used in manufacturing plants and distribution centers. At the International Logistics Exhibition 2026, held September 8–11 at Tokyo Big Sight, the company showed that this range now runs from large-scale pallet management down to individual goods. The company says roughly 85% of warehouse processes are already automated at this point.

The remaining 15% is where the humanoid comes in. Terai's argument rests on two things the company says it has learned: that it understands which humanoids fit a logistics layout, and that reducing motor count is the path to durability, once-a-year maintenance and lower power consumption. Against that, Daifuku's own X-Y picking robot already uses AI recognition and a suction hand, but the company says flexible items like clothing remain difficult for such conventional robots.

What this hinges on is whether the dual-arm hardware can actually deliver on the maintenance and power claims Terai describes, and whether a demonstration in 2030 turns into something warehouse operators can adopt. For now, the announcement is a target rather than a deployed product.