Hitachi has announced plans to merge two of its group companies, Hitachi Automation and Kyoto Robotics, to strengthen its standing in the robotics market in Japan and ASEAN countries.

The announcement comes as Hitachi accelerates global development of its industrial robotics business, responding to rising demand for automation and data collection as businesses face labor shortages and high production demands. 

Kyoto Robotics was founded in 2000 and acquired by Hitachi in April 2021.

Hitachi Automation has a focus on fusing digital solutions and robotic systems, while Kyoto Robotics is its robotic solutions arm with a focus on industrial and manufacturing robotic solutions. Since its foundation, Kyoto Robotics has been developing intelligent robotic vision systems that operate entirely autonomously, with the capacity to recognize objects with an accuracy of 99.99%. These solutions feature a 3D vision and AI control system to enable autonomous navigation and operation.

Following the merger, Hitachi will expand its automation and digital manufacturing and logistics capabilities, through a combination of Hitachi Automation’s front engineering capabilities and Kyoto Robotics’ intelligent robotic vision systems.

“In recent years, in industry, particularly in the manufacturing and logistics, there has been rapidly growing demand for the automation at shop floor using robots reflecting a labor shortage due to the declining birthrate, the aging of the population and the decrease in the working-age population, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said. “Meanwhile, the boundaries between operations, organizations and companies have become obvious. To solve these issues seamlessly and create new value, digital transformation using advanced technology is being accelerated.”