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Banseog note · 2026-10-26
A University of Tokyo spin-off bringing factory-floor craft skills into physical AI
Widening collaboration — moving from custom AI development to placing its platform on the floors of large manufacturers
- Founded in 2021, it is a University of Tokyo-born AI venture specializing in manufacturing, led by CEO Takumi Kawamura and CTO Takumi Okuma. It has developed AI and robotics that connect IT and OT (operational technology on the shop floor).
- In July 2025 it was selected for the third round of GENIAC, the generative AI development support program of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and NEDO, and began developing a manufacturing-specific LLM that automatically generates PLC ladder programs from specifications and drawings.
- Its careers page lists openings for solution sales and PM (experienced hires) and for web, AI, robotics and FA engineers.
Decisions within a year
- Collaboration with Yazaki on September 24, 2026, it agreed to provide its no-code physical AI development platform 'Physical AI Canvas' to Yazaki Corporation. The target is automation of wire harness production; at first Airion engineers will define tasks together with Yazaki, and the goal is for Yazaki to then run everything from data collection to robot application and improvement on its own.
- Autonomous weeding robot development: on August 26, 2026, it said that together with Stearmotor it had developed a robot that autonomously sprays herbicide around solar power plants using a wheeled quadruped robot (Unitree Go2-W), and it plans to continue field trials.
- AI for passing on skilled know-how: in January 2026, with Epson Direct, it announced joint development results that put 'Gino Keisho-kun' (a skill succession tool), which draws out and documents experts' tacit knowledge through dialogue, on the Endeavor JT51 field device.
People they will look for
- Robotics and FA engineer running everything from data collection to robot application together with customers in their factories, as with Yazaki
- AI engineer (robot learning, LLM) — model evaluation for Physical AI Canvas and development of the LLM that generates ladder programs
- Solution sales and PM creating joint development projects with large manufacturers and managing them through to on-site deployment
For hiring managers
In Korea too, people who combine PLC and FA experience with AI are rare and sought at the same time by the smart factory groups of large manufacturers, industrial robot companies and manufacturing AI startups. Japanese companies are also hiring such people as experienced hires, so now is the time to review the compensation of Korean factory automation leaders.
For job seekers
A career that started with hands-on PLC ladder programming or automation of assembly processes such as wire harnesses and then moved into AI and robot learning is worth the most. The workplace is Tokyo, and customers are large Japanese manufacturers, so on-site communication skills matter.
An analysis written from public sources. Sources: PR TIMES 2026-09-24 (Yazaki collaboration), PR TIMES 2026-08-26 (Stearmotor weeding robot), PR TIMES 2026-01-27 (Epson Direct, Gino Keisho-kun), CNET Japan 2025-07-15 (GENIAC selection, ladder LLM), Airion website (management, Physical AI Canvas), Airion careers page 2026-10-26 (job categories).
Skills asked for most
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