AI Robot Association
AIRoA (AI Robot Association) is a Japanese non-profit that develops open datasets, Vision-Language-Action pipelines, and foundation models for general-purpose robots. It serves major Japanese corporations, emerging robotics startups, and academic researchers through a membership model and government-funded NEDO projects.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What AI Robot Association does
AIRoA (AI Robot Association) is a Japanese non-profit incorporated association (General Incorporated Association / 一般社団法人) that develops open platforms, large-scale datasets, and foundation models for AI-driven robotics. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Tokyo, the organization collects and curates tens of thousands of hours of real-world robot motion data—including approximately 10,000 hours of multimodal data (RGB-D video, joint states, force/torque signals, language annotations, action trajectories)—and organizes it in the LeRobot format for distribution to the global research community. Its core technology stack centers on Vision-Language-Action (VLA) pipelines enabling robots to autonomously perform daily tasks such as handling utensils, hanging clothes, and executing housekeeping functions in unpredictable home and industrial environments.
The association operates a membership-based business model with four tiers—Regular Members (¥10M/year), Associate Members (¥1.2M/year for sub-15-year-old companies under ¥300M capital), Expert Members (free for individuals), and Supporting Members (¥5M/year)—currently comprising approximately 42 organizations including Toyota, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu, DENSO, KDDI, SoftBank, and Telexistence. The dominant revenue stream is a ¥20.5 billion NEDO-commissioned project for "Development of Data Platforms for Generative AI Foundation Models in the Robotics Field" running October 2025 through August 2029. Go-to-market is community-led: AIRoA runs competitions (Robot Foundation Model Development Competition with 6 teams, General-Purpose Robot Development Competition with 8 consortia, VLA Pipeline Competition at ICRA 2026), conducts field trials at venues such as Miraikan and Toyota Woven City, and participates in global conferences to build ecosystem participation.
Customers span major Japanese industrial corporations, emerging robotics startups (Preferred Robotics, Tokyo Robotics, Jizai, ugo), academic researchers, and industrial adopters in retail, manufacturing, logistics, and construction identified as priority deployment verticals for service robots addressing Japan's labor shortage.
AI Robot Association firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AI Robot Association
- Legal name
- AI Robot Association
- Website
- https://airoa.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- AIRoA (AI Robot Association) is a Japanese non-profit that develops open datasets, Vision-Language-Action pipelines, and foundation models for general-purpose robots. It serves major Japanese corporations, emerging robotics startups, and academic researchers through a membership model and government-funded NEDO projects.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AI Robot Association industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Robot Foundation Models
- NAICS
- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (541715)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Open-Source Model Ecosystems & Model Marketplaces (HDAAACAM)
Keywords
Where AI Robot Association is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices2 records
Markets served
AI Robot Association business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Membership Fees: Annual membership fees from regular, associate, expert, and supporting members. Regular members (corporations utilizing AI/robotics) pay ¥10,000,000 annually. Associate members (robot/AI model development companies under 15 years old with capital under ¥300M) pay ¥1,200,000. Expert members (individuals with expertise) pay no fee. Supporting members (endorsing corporations) pay ¥5,000,000.
- Government Project Funding (NEDO): Project funding from NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) for the 'Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Program / Development of Data Platforms for Generative AI Foundation Models in the Robotics Field'. Project budget is 20.5 billion JPY for the period October 1, 2025 – August 31, 2029.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Regular Membership for corporations utilizing AI or robotics |
| Subscription | Annual | Associate Membership for newer robot/AI model development companies |
| Subscription | Annual | Expert Membership for individuals with AI or robotics expertise |
| Subscription | Annual | Supporting Membership for corporations endorsing the association's objectives |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
AI Robot Association product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AIRoA develops and openly shares large-scale robot motion datasets and robot foundation models built on Vision-Language-Action (VLA) architectures, providing a collaborative platform where member corporations, startups, and researchers contribute data and build general-purpose robot capabilities. It operates multi-team competitions (Robot Foundation Model Development, General-Purpose Robot Development, VLA Pipeline) and field trials (Miraikan, Toyota Woven City) to accelerate deployment of autonomous robots in homes and industry.
Product overview
AIRoA (AI Robot Association) operates as a non-profit organization creating open platforms for AI and robotics innovation. The organization functions as an ecosystem combining open datasets for robot foundation models (tens of thousands of hours of robot motion data), publicly shared foundation models, and various competition programs (Robot Foundation Model Development Competition, General-Purpose Robot Development Competition, VLA Pipeline Competition). These offerings work together to build a collaborative 'robot data ecosystem' where researchers and companies can contribute to and benefit from shared robotics data and models, ultimately facilitating the integration of general-purpose robots into society.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Open Datasets for Robot Foundation Models High-quality, general-purpose datasets of robotic actions collected from real-world environments, including tens of thousands of hours of robot motion data from dual-arm mobile manipulators, organized in the LeRobot format and made openly available to the global robotics community for foundation model training.
- Robot Foundation Models Foundation models for robotics developed and publicly shared by AIRoA, enabling generalizable knowledge transfer and skill learning across multiple robot types and use cases. Models enable robots to perform tasks such as using utensils to handle food, putting clothes on hangers, and other daily activities.
Quantifiable outcome
- Robots meeting evaluation criteria will be used as data collection robots for robot foundation model development under NEDO commissioned project, with mass production scheduled from July 2027 onward
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use AI Robot Association
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
AI Robot Association technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability8 records
Feature4 records
AI Robot Association partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Miraikan (The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation)coreJointly conducting field trial 'Experience the Future: Robot Housekeeper' from March 18-31, 2026. Part of Miraikan's 'Creating Your Future Lab' experimental program where visitors experience and evaluate teleoperated housekeeping robots.
- ICRA 2026coreAIRoA's workshop proposal 'From Data to Decisions: VLA Pipelines for Real Robots' accepted for presentation at ICRA 2026 (Vienna, Austria, June 1-5). Features paper sessions and mobile manipulation competition with approximately 10,000 hours of real robot data.
- New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)coreAIRoA was selected as project implementer for NEDO's 'Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Program / Development of Data Platforms for Generative AI Foundation Models in the Robotics Field.' Project budget is 20.5 billion JPY from October 2025 to August 2029. The competition for general-purpose robot development is conducted as part of this commissioned project.
- Telexistence Inc.coreListed as a subcontractor for the NEDO project alongside ABEJA Inc., AIST, The University of Tokyo, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Shimizu Corporation, Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Also a Regular Member of AIRoA.
- ABEJA Inc.coreSubcontractor for NEDO project focused on data platform development for generative AI foundation models in robotics. Also a Regular Member of AIRoA and led by Yousuke Okada (CEO, Board Director of AIRoA).
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)coreSubcontractor for NEDO project. Joint team with SoftBank and Mitsubishi Electric won the Robot Foundation Model Development Competition by leveraging advanced data curation technology.
- The University of TokyocoreSubcontractor for NEDO project. Jointly conducts field trials with Matsuo & Iwasawa Laboratory at the School of Engineering. Chairperson Tetsuya Ogata is Professor at Waseda University with connections.
- Kyushu Institute of TechnologysupportingSubcontractor for NEDO project contributing expertise in robotics and AI research.
- Shimizu CorporationsupportingSubcontractor for NEDO project, bringing construction industry perspective to robotics deployment.
- Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.supportingSubcontractor for NEDO project, providing real estate and housing industry expertise for home robot applications.
- Mitsubishi Electric CorporationcoreSubcontractor for NEDO project. Regular Member of AIRoA. Joint team winner of Robot Foundation Model Development Competition with AIST and SoftBank, achieving top real-world task success rates.
- Toyota Motor CorporationcoreProviding HSR (Human Support Robot) for field trials at Miraikan through Frontier Research Center. Regular Member of AIRoA. AIRoA joined Toyota Woven City as an 'Inventor' to conduct real-world exploration of AI robots in society.
- Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)coreThrough GENIAC (Generative AI Accelerator Challenge), a national project run by METI and NEDO to strengthen Japan's capabilities in generative AI. Supports robot foundation model development initiatives.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
AI Robot Association competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ARM Institute: U.S. Manufacturing USA institute advancing robotics and AI for manufacturing through member-driven R&D and workforce development. Comparable as a federally-supported industry-academic consortium focused on shared robotics infrastructure and datasets.
- MassRobotics: U.S. non-profit robotics innovation hub fostering a collaborative ecosystem among robotics startups, researchers, and corporate members. Closely comparable to AIRoA as a member-driven, community-led robotics consortium with shared infrastructure and industry-academic membership.
- Physical Intelligence: U.S.-based well-funded startup building foundation models for robots (pi-zero and successors) with the explicit goal of enabling general-purpose robotic manipulation. Directly comparable to AIRoA in pursuing robot foundation models, though operating as a commercial venture rather than non-profit.
- MLCommons: Non-profit consortium that develops industry-standard benchmarks and collaborative datasets for AI, including emerging robotics benchmarks. Comparable as an open-data/benchmark consortium model with industry-academic membership structure akin to AIRoA.
Broad incumbents
- Google DeepMind (Robotics): DeepMind's robotics division builds foundation models (e.g., RT-2, Open X-Embodiment) and benchmarks for embodied AI. Comparable as a major global player pursuing robot foundation model R&D, though operating as a fully commercial research arm of Alphabet rather than a non-profit consortium.
- Toyota Research Institute: Toyota's research institute conducts Large Behavior Model (LBM) research for robot foundation models and operates the Toyota Woven City testbed that AIRoA just joined as an Inventor. Closely connected to AIRoA through Toyota membership and overlapping robot foundation model goals.
Others
- Hugging Face: Open AI/ML model and dataset hub that increasingly hosts robotics-relevant foundation models and datasets (e.g., LeRobot ecosystem). Comparable as a global open-data/model distribution platform whose LeRobot format AIRoA has adopted; serves as an adjacent infrastructure provider rather than direct competitor.
- LF AI & Data Foundation: Linux Foundation sub-foundation hosting open-source AI and data projects with industry-academic membership. Comparable as an open-source AI/data ecosystem host with similar governance and multi-stakeholder membership model, though broader in scope than AIRoA's robotics focus.
Emerging players
- Apptronik: U.S.-based humanoid robotics company (Apollo platform) pursuing foundation-model-driven general-purpose robots in partnership with Google DeepMind. Comparable in target use cases (household, industrial manipulation) and foundation model strategy to AIRoA's vision.
- Figure AI: U.S. humanoid robotics company developing general-purpose humanoid robots (Figure 01/02) using Helix, its robot foundation model. Comparable as a commercial player building robot foundation models for general-purpose manipulation and home/industrial deployment.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
AI Robot Association social profiles
Digital presenceAI Robot Association financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AI Robot Association leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles13 records
AI Robot Association funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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AI Robot Association M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about AI Robot Association
What does AI Robot Association do?
AIRoA develops and openly shares large-scale robot motion datasets and robot foundation models built on Vision-Language-Action (VLA) architectures, providing a collaborative platform where member corporations, startups, and researchers contribute data and build general-purpose robot capabilities. It operates multi-team competitions (Robot Foundation Model Development, General-Purpose Robot Development, VLA Pipeline) and field trials (Miraikan, Toyota Woven City) to accelerate deployment of autonomous robots in homes and industry.
Is AI Robot Association a public or private company?
AI Robot Association is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was AI Robot Association founded?
AI Robot Association was founded in 2024. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is AI Robot Association based?
AI Robot Association is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does AI Robot Association make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Membership Fees are the primary driver. The others are government Project Funding (NEDO).
Who are AI Robot Association's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ARM Institute, MassRobotics, Physical Intelligence and MLCommons. Broad incumbents are Google DeepMind (Robotics) and Toyota Research Institute. Others are Hugging Face and LF AI & Data Foundation. Emerging players are Apptronik and Figure AI.
Does AI Robot Association have an API?
No public API is recorded for AI Robot Association.
What industry is AI Robot Association in?
AI Robot Association's product category is Robot Foundation Models. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAIAK, Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins), with a secondary code of HDAAACAM, Open-Source Model Ecosystems & Model Marketplaces. Its NAICS code is 541715 and its SIC code is 7373.