AIBRIEF
Physical AI lets robots read real world conditions and act on them. The four Japanese heavyweights are exploring a common control layer for robots from different vendors, built on NVIDIA's Cosmos, as the factory workforce shrinks.
Fujitsu announced from Kawasaki on July 16 that it has begun exploring a shared control platform with FANUC, Yaskawa Electric, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The effort targets common software and hardware interfaces that can orchestrate robots from different vendors. Fujitsu PR
The platform uses NVIDIA's Cosmos foundation model, a world-simulator that lets robots rehearse factory, warehouse, and hospital conditions before any code ships to the floor. NVIDIA blog
Three target verticals: production planning and on-site adaptation in factories; material handling in logistics and retail driven by real-time sales and inventory; and hospital robots that transport pharmaceuticals and handle outpatient reception. GlobeNewswire announcement
Japan's industrial sector is meanwhile facing labor shortages, an aging workforce, and a decline in skilled technicians in manufacturing. The firms position the platform as a sovereignty play, citing cybersecurity and confidential data as core design priorities. ChannelLife
NVIDIA separately introduced Cosmos 3 Edge for on-device vision reasoning on Jetson Thor, plus Metropolis libraries for agentic vision AI. The shared-control platform remains at the design stage, with no deployment timeline from any of the four firms. AP via Yahoo News