SoftBank Robotics

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SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. is a Japanese robotics company and subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, that develops and distributes service robots best known for Pepper, the world's first mass-produced social robot able to read human emotions, and NAO, the most widely adopted humanoid robot in education and research. As of 2025, the company reports more than 35,000 robotic systems deployed across over 70 countries ^[1]. Pepper, introduced in 2014, reached roughly 27,000 manufactured units, while NAO, first shipped in 2008, surpassed 13,000 units in more than 70 countries ^[3][8].

The company develops, manufactures, and distributes service robots for commercial, educational, and hospitality applications. SoftBank Robotics traces its origins to Aldebaran Robotics, a French company founded in Paris in 2005 by Bruno Maisonnier. SoftBank Group acquired a majority stake in Aldebaran in 2012 and subsequently rebranded the European division as SoftBank Robotics Europe. The company later established SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. as a holding entity in Japan in January 2012, eventually growing into an international operation with 21 offices across 10 countries ^[2]. The European subsidiary was sold to United Robotics Group in 2022 and reverted to the Aldebaran name, while the Japanese parent company continued expanding its product portfolio into commercial cleaning, food delivery, and cooking robotics.

History

Aldebaran Robotics: founding and early years (2004 to 2012)

The story of SoftBank Robotics begins with Aldebaran Robotics, founded in 2005 in Paris, France, by Bruno Maisonnier. A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom Paris with prior executive experience in the banking sector, Maisonnier had launched "Project Nao" in 2004 with the goal of building an affordable, programmable humanoid robot ^[3]. Aldebaran became the first French company dedicated exclusively to humanoid robotics.

The company's flagship product, NAO, progressed through multiple prototypes between 2005 and 2007. A pivotal moment came in August 2007 when NAO was selected to replace Sony's discontinued AIBO robot as the official platform for the RoboCup Standard Platform League, giving Aldebaran significant international visibility ^[4]. The first production units shipped in March 2008, and the robot quickly became the most widely adopted humanoid platform in academic research and STEM education.

In June 2011, Aldebaran raised US$13 million in a venture funding round led by Intel Capital, which supported the development of the NAO V4 model and the company's commercial expansion ^[3]. By the time of SoftBank's acquisition, approximately 900 NAO units were deployed across 30 countries.

During this period, Aldebaran also began developing Romeo, a larger humanoid research robot standing 1.4 meters tall, intended for assistive robotics research. Work on Romeo started in 2009 with a budget of approximately 10 million euros, about half of which came from the French government ^[5].

SoftBank acquisition and expansion (2012 to 2022)

In early 2012, SoftBank Mobile (later SoftBank Group) acquired a majority stake exceeding 80% in Aldebaran Robotics for approximately US$100 million, with commitments for additional investments of $40 to $50 million ^[6]. The acquisition was driven by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's vision of using robotics to address societal challenges, particularly caring for aging populations in Japan.

SoftBank Robotics Holdings Corp. was established in January 2012 as a holding entity within SoftBank Group to manage its robotics operations. Fumihide Tomizawa was appointed as President and CEO ^[2].

In June 2014, SoftBank and Aldebaran jointly unveiled Pepper, the world's first mass-produced social robot capable of reading human emotions. Masayoshi Son personally introduced Pepper at a press conference in Tokyo, declaring: "Our aim is to develop affectionate robots that can make people smile" ^[7]. Pepper went on sale in Japan in June 2015, with the first batch of 1,000 units selling out in just 60 seconds ^[8].

In 2015, Maisonnier stepped down as CEO of Aldebaran. SoftBank Group purchased all of his remaining shares, increasing its ownership of Aldebaran to approximately 95% ^[9]. The company was formally rebranded as SoftBank Robotics Europe, integrating it more closely into the parent company's corporate structure.

During the SoftBank era, the company's robot lineup achieved broad commercial deployment. NAO expanded to over 13,000 units in 70+ countries, while Pepper reached approximately 27,000 manufactured units by 2021, deployed in retail stores, banks, hospitals, hotels, airports, and schools worldwide ^[3][8].

Divestiture of European operations (2022)

On April 12, 2022, SoftBank Robotics Group announced that United Robotics Group (URG), a German robotics conglomerate, would acquire SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS, the French subsidiary responsible for the design and engineering of NAO and Pepper ^[10]. The deal, which closed in the second quarter of 2022, included the transfer of more than 180 robotics specialists. SoftBank Robotics Group acquired a minority stake in URG in return, and the two companies agreed to continue cooperating on global robot distribution.

In September 2022, the French subsidiary formally reverted to the Aldebaran name, reclaiming the brand identity that had been retired seven years earlier ^[11].

Despite divesting its European engineering arm, SoftBank Robotics Group continued operating as a robot integrator and distributor through its Japanese, American, and Asia-Pacific subsidiaries, expanding into commercial cleaning and food service automation.

Aldebaran's receivership and Maxvision acquisition (2024 to 2025)

Under URG ownership, the re-established Aldebaran faced severe financial difficulties. Between 2019 and 2022, the company had accumulated a net deficit of approximately 156 million euros, and in 2023, it recorded an operating loss of 26 million euros ^[12]. In August 2024, URG stopped funding Aldebaran, halting development of the seventh-generation NAO that engineers had been working on ^[12].

In February 2025, Aldebaran filed for bankruptcy protection in France. A French court placed the company in receivership in June 2025, resulting in the layoff of approximately 106 employees ^[12]. On July 10, 2025, Maxvision Technology Corp., a Shenzhen-listed Chinese technology company (stock code 002990), acquired Aldebaran's core assets, including all intellectual property related to NAO and Pepper, through a public auction for 0.9 million euros ^[13].

On August 28, 2025, Maxvision established Maxtronics, a French subsidiary, to continue NAO and Pepper development, sales, and customer support. Maxvision stated that existing employees would be retained and that manufacturing would shift to China for production efficiency, while the French office would serve as an R&D and customer service hub ^[13][14].

What products does SoftBank Robotics make?

SoftBank Robotics and its predecessor/successor companies have developed and marketed several robot platforms across different market segments, ranging from programmable humanoids for education to autonomous cleaning, delivery, and cooking robots for commercial use.

Robot product lineup

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What is NAO?

NAO is a 58 cm tall autonomous programmable humanoid robot, originally developed by Aldebaran Robotics starting in 2004. First commercially released in 2008, NAO is one of the most widely deployed humanoid robots in the world, with over 13,000 units operating across more than 70 countries as of 2024. The robot features 25 degrees of freedom, two HD cameras, four directional microphones, speech recognition in over 20 languages, and support for programming in Python, C++, Java, and MATLAB through the NAOqi software framework ^[3].

NAO has gone through six major hardware revisions, with the current NAO6 model released in 2018. It is the official platform for the RoboCup Standard Platform League and is heavily used in autism therapy, STEM education, and human-robot interaction research. Prices range from $9,000 to $16,000 depending on configuration ^[4].

What is Pepper?

Pepper is a 120 cm tall semi-humanoid social robot, jointly developed by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank. Unveiled in Tokyo on June 5, 2014, Pepper was marketed as the world's first personal robot capable of reading human emotions through analysis of facial expressions, voice tones, and body language ^[7].

Pepper specifications

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Pepper was manufactured by Foxconn and went on sale in Japan in June 2015 at a base price of 198,000 yen (approximately US$1,600 at the time). The first batch of 1,000 units sold out within 60 seconds ^[8]. Pepper was deployed extensively in commercial settings, including HSBC bank branches, Carrefour supermarkets, Renault dealerships, Costa Cruise ships, French railway stations, Hamazushi restaurant chains (all branches in Japan), and airports such as Montreal-Trudeau International Airport and Prague Airport ^[8].

At its peak, approximately 27,000 Pepper units had been manufactured. However, in June 2021, SoftBank paused Pepper production citing weak demand ^[8]. By May 2018, roughly 12,000 units had been sold in Europe alone. Pepper was also deployed in thousands of Japanese homes as a consumer companion robot beginning in 2017.

Romeo

Romeo was a 140 cm tall, 40 kg humanoid research robot developed by Aldebaran in collaboration with multiple French and European research institutions, including INRIA and LAAS-CNRS. The project began in 2009 with a budget of approximately 10 million euros, roughly half of which was financed by the French government ^[5]. Romeo featured 37 degrees of freedom, a four-vertebra backbone, articulated feet, and a partially soft fuselage. It was designed to explore assistive robotics for elderly and disabled individuals, capable of tasks such as opening doors, climbing stairs, and reaching objects on a table. Romeo was never commercialized and remained at the prototype stage ^[5].

Whiz

Whiz is a commercial autonomous vacuum cleaning robot developed by SoftBank Robotics and powered by BrainOS, an AI-based operating system from Brain Corp. Designed for carpeted flooring and commercial spaces, Whiz can memorize up to 600 cleaning routes and covers up to 1,500 square meters on a single charge with approximately three hours of continuous operation ^[15]. The robot uses LIDAR, sonar, and camera-based sensors for obstacle detection and autonomous navigation. Whiz was deployed in offices, hotels, airports, hospitals, and academic campuses, and is monitored through the SoftBank Robotics Connect cloud dashboard.

Servi

Servi is a tray delivery robot co-developed by SoftBank Robotics and Bear Robotics in 2021. Designed for food service and hospitality, Servi navigates autonomously through restaurant aisles (minimum 65 cm width) to deliver food and drinks. The upgraded Servi Plus model can carry four extra-large trays with a total payload capacity of up to 40 kg and supports multi-point delivery functions ^[16].

FLAMA

FLAMA is a commercial flame-cooking robot announced for sale in Japan with orders opening on April 7, 2026. Domestic sales are handled exclusively through Gourmet X Corp., a SoftBank Robotics subsidiary. FLAMA is designed as a connected cooking system that combines automated cooking, recipe synchronization, and menu development support. SoftBank Robotics planned to showcase FLAMA publicly at FABEX 2026 in Tokyo ^[17].

Software and developer platform

SoftBank Robotics' robots historically run on NAOqi, a proprietary Linux-based operating system and middleware framework originally developed by Aldebaran Robotics. NAOqi provides a broker-based architecture that enables communication between software modules responsible for motion, audio, video, and sensor processing ^[18].

How are SoftBank robots programmed?

SoftBank robots are programmed through the NAOqi software framework, using a layered toolchain that ranges from a no-code graphical editor to full Python, C++, Java, and Android SDKs.

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Choregraphe, the graphical programming tool, allows non-programmers to create robot behaviors using drag-and-drop "boxes" representing actions such as walking, speaking, and gesturing. More advanced users can embed Python scripts within custom boxes for fine-grained control. The software includes a 3D simulator for testing behaviors on a virtual robot before deploying to physical hardware ^[18].

In 2016, SoftBank Robotics launched a dedicated developer portal and Android SDK for Pepper, enabling developers to build tablet-based applications on top of the NAOqi operating system ^[19].

Corporate structure

SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. operates as a holding company overseeing robotics operations within SoftBank Group. As of 2025, the company maintains 21 locations across 10 countries ^[2].

Subsidiaries

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Notably, the former SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS (the original Aldebaran Robotics) is no longer part of SoftBank Robotics Group, having been sold to United Robotics Group in 2022 and subsequently acquired by Maxvision Technology in 2025.

Leadership

Fumihide Tomizawa has served as President and CEO of SoftBank Robotics since the company's establishment in 2014. The executive leadership team includes a Chief Business Officer (Kenichi Yoshida), Chief Marketing Officer (Kazutaka Hasumi), Chief Product Officer (Dai Sakata), Chief Financial Officer (Chikara Matsukubo), and Chief Technology Officer (Akiho Shibata) ^[2].

SoftBank Group's broader robotics strategy

SoftBank Robotics Group is part of SoftBank Group's larger robotics and AI investment strategy, which has expanded significantly since 2017.

Key robotics investments and acquisitions

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Why did SoftBank acquire ABB Robotics?

SoftBank Group's most significant recent move in robotics was the October 8, 2025 announcement that it would acquire ABB Ltd.'s robotics business for US$5.375 billion, positioning the company for what Masayoshi Son calls SoftBank's "next frontier" of Physical AI ^[20]. ABB Robotics employs approximately 7,000 people and generated $2.3 billion in revenue in 2024, representing about 7% of ABB's total revenue ^[20][21]. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2026 pending regulatory approvals in the EU, United States, and China, would be integrated with SoftBank's existing robotics holdings under a structure called Robo HD ^[21].

Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, framed the acquisition around the company's super-intelligence thesis, stating: "Together with ABB Robotics, we will unite world-class technology and talent under our shared vision to fuse Artificial Super Intelligence and robotics, driving a groundbreaking evolution that will propel humanity forward" ^[20]. Robotics is one of four strategic focus areas for SoftBank Group alongside AI chips, AI data centers, and energy, all framed under Son's stated mission to realize artificial super intelligence (ASI) for the advancement of humanity ^[20].

SoftBank Group previously acquired Boston Dynamics from Alphabet in 2017 for a reported $100 million. After investing further (including $37 million in loans converted to equity in 2019), SoftBank sold an 80% controlling stake in Boston Dynamics to Hyundai Motor Group in December 2020 for approximately $880 million, valuing the company at $1.1 billion. SoftBank retained a roughly 20% minority stake through an affiliate ^[22].

How does SoftBank Robotics compare to competitors?

SoftBank Robotics operates in the social and service robotics market, competing with companies across multiple segments, from emotion-enabled humanoids to autonomous cleaning, food-service, and industrial robots.

Competitive landscape

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According to industry analyses, approximately 52% of the humanoid robot market share was concentrated among the top five players as of 2025, with SoftBank Robotics, Boston Dynamics, and Hanson Robotics among the leading companies ^[23]. SoftBank Robotics' competitive advantage has rested on its large installed base, the NAOqi software ecosystem, and its early entry into the social robotics market. However, the pause in Pepper production in 2021 and the financial difficulties of Aldebaran have created openings for competitors, particularly Chinese companies like UBTECH and Keenon Robotics that have scaled rapidly in the service robot segment.

The pending ABB Robotics acquisition, if completed, would significantly expand SoftBank's competitive position in industrial robotics, a market historically dominated by FANUC, ABB, KUKA, and Yaskawa.

Timeline

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Legacy and impact

SoftBank Robotics and its predecessor Aldebaran Robotics played a foundational role in the development of the social and service robotics industry. NAO, first released in 2008, became the world's most widely adopted humanoid robot in education and remains the standard platform for the RoboCup Standard Platform League. Pepper, introduced in 2014, was the first mass-produced social robot designed for emotion recognition and was deployed in commercial environments on a scale that no competitor had previously achieved.

The company's trajectory also illustrates the challenges of commercializing social robotics. Despite deploying tens of thousands of units globally, neither NAO nor Pepper achieved sustained profitability, contributing to the financial difficulties that ultimately led to Aldebaran's receivership in 2025. The repeated changes in corporate ownership (from Aldebaran to SoftBank to United Robotics Group to Maxvision/Maxtronics for the European operations) reflect the broader industry's struggle to find viable business models for humanoid service robots ^[12].

SoftBank Group's continued investment in robotics through the ABB acquisition and its broader "Physical AI" strategy suggests that the parent company views robotics as central to its long-term vision, even as the specific products and subsidiaries have evolved over time.

See also

• NAO (robot)
• Pepper (robot)
• Humanoid robots
• Humanoid robot history
• Humanoid robot market
• Boston Dynamics
• UBTECH
• RoboCup
• Honda ASIMO
• Robot Operating System

References

1. SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. - Official Website ↩
2. SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. - Company Profile ↩
3. Aldebaran (company) - Wikipedia) ↩
4. RoboCup Standard Platform League - Wikipedia ↩
5. Romeo humanoid robot - robots.nu ↩
6. Aldebaran Robotics Sells Majority Stake for $100 Million - IEEE Spectrum ↩
7. SoftBank Mobile and Aldebaran Unveil Pepper - SoftBank Press Release (June 5, 2014) ↩
8. Pepper (robot) - Wikipedia) ↩
9. Aldebaran Robotics Founder and CEO Steps Down, SoftBank Appoints New Leader - IEEE Spectrum ↩
10. United Robotics Group acquires SoftBank Robotics Europe - SoftBank Robotics News ↩
11. SoftBank Robotics Europe is now Aldebaran (again) - TechCrunch ↩
12. Aldebaran, maker of Pepper and Nao robots, put in receivership - The Robot Report ↩
13. Maxvision Secures Core Robot Assets of Aldebaran - Maxvision ↩
14. Pepper and Nao rescued: Maxvision buys insolvent robotics company Aldebaran - Heise Online ↩
15. Whiz Commercial Robot Vacuum - SoftBank Robotics America ↩
16. SoftBank Robotics - Solution Overview ↩
17. SoftBank Robotics to Launch FLAMA Commercial Flame-Cooking Robot in Japan - IBTimes JP ↩
18. NAOqi Framework - Aldebaran Documentation ↩
19. SoftBank Robotics America Announces New Developer Portal and Android SDK - PR Newswire ↩
20. Acquisition of ABB Ltd's Robotics Business - SoftBank Group Corp. ↩
21. SoftBank bulks up its robotics portfolio with ABB Group's robotics unit - TechCrunch ↩
22. Hyundai Motor Group Completes Acquisition of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank - SoftBank Group Corp. ↩
23. Humanoid Robot Market Report 2025-2030 - MarketsandMarkets ↩