Robotics

Today's Stories

1. 1

   Sodexo deploys AI to automate menus, staffing; tests checkout-free stores

   Sodexo, a Fortune 500 foodservice and facilities company with around $28 billion（約4.5兆円） in annual revenue, is rolling out AI tools across its operations in 43 countries. Its internal 'Menu AI' tool generates and manages menus from 400 seasonal recipes in a single day instead of two to four weeks of manual work. The company is also using AI to optimize staffing levels, purchasing, and pricing, and has deployed about 200 robots globally, including 100 floor-cleaning robots and 85 delivery robots. Two university frictionless stores—checkout-free retail using AI and computer vision—have shown a 56% revenue lift and a 28% sales lift with an 11% boost to average check size. Sodexo faces volatile demand (schools in or out of session, stadium games, return-to-office shifts) and ingredient volatility tied to seasonality and volatile food prices. By automating menu planning and staffing decisions, the company can respond faster to demand swings and cost fluctuations, freeing kitchen staff from laptops to focus on cooking. For businesses managing complex operations across many sites, this suggests AI can reduce manual planning overhead and improve profitability.

   Sodexo oversees an annual tech budget of around 500 million euros ($571 million（約910億円） USD). The company pilots every major AI use case at five to ten sites in a couple of the 43 countries it serves before wider rollout. Kitchen robots capable of handling repetitive and potentially risky tasks are under exploration, though not yet deployed.

2. 2

   Japan to develop sovereign AI model, deploy 10M robots by 2040

   Japan's government will invest around $6 billion（約9600億円） in a homegrown AI model developed by Noetra, a consortium including SoftBank and Sony, with the government providing up to 1 trillion yen over the next five years. The country also announced a revised AI robotics strategy targeting deployment of approximately 10 million robots across 18 sectors by 2040, with a focus on physical AI—artificial intelligence deployed in real-world settings like self-driving cars and factory robots. Japan is pursuing sovereign AI to reduce dependence on U.S. and Chinese technology. With an aging and shrinking population, robots are expected to help fill workforce gaps. The effort reflects a broader shift: countries worldwide are seeking homegrown AI capabilities, and Japan's 14-year growth strategy targets ¥370 trillion ($2.3 trillion（約370兆円）) in public and private investment across physical AI, chips, quantum technology, and nuclear fusion.

   The number of companies investing in Noetra is expected to increase to 44, spanning automotive, electronics, manufacturing, finance, and logistics sectors. Industry minister Ryosei Akazawa stated the government will "build and grow data infrastructure for physical AI and robots that capitalize on Japan's strengths." Despite the ambitious targets, real-world application and performance of AI robots remain limited.

3. 3

   X Square Robot raises $2.8B valuation with four funding rounds

   X Square Robot, a Shenzhen-based embodied AI company, closed four consecutive financing rounds culminating in a Series C, bringing its valuation to more than $2.8 billion（約4500億円）. The company plans to invest the funding in foundational research and core technologies to advance toward general-purpose embodied AI. X Square Robot is moving household robots from demos into real homes—it has partnered with 58.com to deploy AI-powered cleaning robots in Shenzhen and Beijing, and launched a "X Family Member Program" where robots live with families for up to one month. This real-world deployment creates feedback loops that improve the company's models, a potential signal that practical embodied AI systems are beginning to work in everyday environments.

   The company introduced WALL-B, a foundation model built on its World Unified Model architecture, in April 2026. An open-source version, WALL-OSS-0.5, achieved over 80% autonomous completion on four of 17 real-robot tasks without post-training, suggesting progress toward robots that can generalize across multiple household tasks.

4. 4

   Don't Miss AirWise Solutions on the Public Safety Drone Review, July 7!

   Don't Miss AirWise Solutions on the Public Safety Drone Review, July 7!

5. 5

   morph embeds AI into soft robotic cells for hardware-software fusion

   London-based robotics startup morph emerged from stealth with backing from investors including 8VC, Copper, Qubit Health Capital, Valia Ventures, Blue Lion, Harvey Spevak (chairman of Equinox Group), and musician Pharrell Williams. The company has developed soft robotic cells that embed sensing and adaptive control directly into deformable materials, enabling real-time morphological change and stiffness adjustment. morph's approach challenges the industry assumption that hardware and software can be developed separately. By integrating AI models and continuous learning directly into soft materials, the company aims to create robots that sense, adapt, and respond to their environment in real time—a shift that could make robotics safer for human interaction and more practical for environments beyond industrial warehouses. The use of soft, deformable materials also promises better manufacturing scalability and cost efficiency.

   morph is initially focusing on healthcare applications including athletic performance, injury prevention, and mobility support, with plans to scale across healthcare, automotive, and industrial safety. The company operates on a B2B model, positioning itself as a software, design, and fabrication partner for robotics developers working on problems that require deformable or soft components.

6. 6

   SVT Robotics platform hits 4 billion transactions milestone

   SVT Robotics announced its Softbot Platform has surpassed four billion transactions, with current weekly volumes between 100 million to 130 million. The company expects to exceed eight billion lifetime transactions by the end of 2026. The platform captures transaction data across automation systems and enterprise software to give companies real-time visibility into operations and generate high-fidelity data needed for industrial AI applications. This data foundation is becoming critical as organizations apply AI to logistics and manufacturing.

   The Softbot Platform is currently deployed across four continents at customer sites including DHL, and the company is tracking accelerating transaction volumes as demand for resilient automation infrastructure grows.