TOKYO - Hitachi is stepping up the use of digital technology, autonomous robots and physical AI to address Japan's growing labor shortage, showcasing systems designed to automate factory work and maintain critical infrastructure at one of the group's largest technology exhibitions.
The Hitachi Social Innovation Forum 2026 JAPAN features more than 50 of the Hitachi Group's latest technologies, including robotic arms capable of gripping screws and moving them to designated positions, as well as autonomous transport robots in a variety of shapes.
Hitachi President and CEO Toshiaki Tokunaga said Japan is projected to face a shortage of 11 million workers by 2040. "Autonomously evolving digital infrastructure is the new form of social infrastructure that Hitachi is aiming to create," he said.
A major focus of the exhibition is technology intended to help overcome labor shortages and other challenges facing society.
One system creates a virtual environment that reproduces detailed information about nuclear power plants, including the positioning and distances between pipes and other equipment. The technology allows safety and other conditions to be examined without workers having to visit the site.
Hitachi said it eventually aims to combine the virtual technology with robots that can inspect locations when abnormalities are detected.
The company also demonstrated robots equipped with Hitachi-developed physical AI. The robots can handle cables with the appropriate amount of force and perform wiring work, tasks that require delicate physical control.
Hitachi plans to continue using digital technology and physical AI as it works toward creating what it describes as the social infrastructure of the future.
Hideki Minato of Hitachi's AI Services Promotion Department said production sites manufacturing many different types of products still depend heavily on communication between workers. "Our goal is to use AI's ability to think to optimize factory operations that have traditionally been developed through human experience, and to supplement workplaces suffering from labor shortages," he said.
Source: FNN
