Humanoid Summit2026 「Humanoids, Interaction, and Real-World Deployment」 Hiroshi Ishiguro, Director at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories at Osaka University At the landmark Humanoid Summit Tokyo 2026, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro—Osaka University Professor and the Director of the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories—delivered the opening keynote address under the title “Human Avatars and Future Society”. Speaking to a global audience, Is

Humanoid Summit2026 「Insights Into Disney’s Robotic Character Platform」 Dr. Moritz Bächer, Director of the Zurich Lab at Disney Research Disney Research is systematically dismantling the boundaries between digital screens and physical spaces with its cutting-edge Robotic Character Platform. Unveiled during a presentation titled "Insights into Disney's Robotic Character Platform" by Dr. Moritz Bächer, Director of the Zurich Lab at Disney Research, this initiative redefines "Ph

Humanoid Summit2026 「Dexterity: The Final Frontier for Physical AI」 James Wells, CEO at Sanctuary AI While the global artificial intelligence race has seen billions of dollars poured into compute, foundational models, and data pipelines, the physical application of AI has remained stalled at a single, frustrating bottleneck: dexterity. Robotic arms can move, and AI brains can think, but the ability of a mechanical hand to manipulate the world with human-like precision has rem

Humanoid Summit2026 「Year One of Humanoids — Japan's Deployment Frontline」 Tomohiro Uchida, CEO at GMO AI & Robotics Corporation In May 2026, Japan embarked on a landmark three-year demonstration project at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Co-developed by GMO Internet Group and Japan Airlines (JAL), the initiative deploys advanced humanoid robots to handle demanding back-of-house container transport operations. Beyond its immediate operational impact, this milestone project marks a pr

Humanoid Summit2026 “General-Purpose Robot Brains: A New Era of Industrial AI” Editorial Note This article is based directly on the primary source material and case studies presented during the joint keynote session by Dr. Ali Agha, Founder and CEO of Field AI, and Hashimoto-san of Kajima Corporation. It details the verified technological specifications, return-on-investment models, and multi-agent coordination systems demonstrated during their presentation. By shifting the

Session: Getting to the First Million Speakers: Dov Moran (Moderator) – Managing Partner, Grove Ventures Lockie Andrews – CEO and Founder, Catalyzes AI Leesa Eichberger – Fractional CMO Larry Li – Managing Partner, Amino Capital Barry O'Neill – Partner, Value Create Ventures Summary: This panel outlines critical pathways for early-stage startups to secure their first $100,000 and scale to $1 million, emphasizing that a company’s foundation relies heavily on finding complement

Session: Success Factor of Innovation Ecosystem: Best Practices from Festo Speaker: Frank Notz (CSO, Festo SE & Co. KG) Summary: True innovation must solve concrete customer challenges—boosting productivity, cost efficiency, or machine availability—to build a viable business case rather than just a technical feature. Festo retains its core competencies in-house while actively co-innovating within ecosystems, partnering with startups like Z Alpha for AI-driven engineering and

Session: From pilot to production: How industrial leaders are scaling AI across global manufacturing. Speakers: CK Kumar — Director, Edge Marketing, Dell Technologies (Moderator) Jason Nassar — Vertical Enablement Leader, Product Management, Dell Technologies Ralf Schulze — VP Physical AI, HCLTech Jessica Bethune — Vice President Industrial Automation DACH, Schneider Electric Sean Young — Director, Enterprise Marketing, NVIDIA Headquarters Summary: This panel addresses the ma

Session: Germany's Role: Implications for the Bundeswehr and the Defense Industry (Hannover Messe) Speaker: State Secretary Nils Hilmer (Representative for the Federal Minister of Defense) Session Summary: State Secretary Hilmer declared Germany's industrial capabilities a fundamental pillar of national sovereignty and security, calling for urgent civil-military collaboration to drive rapid defense innovations. He detailed a massive military budget scale-up, projecting the de

Session: European Defence: How we build the industrial landscape we need Speakers: ・Dr. Michael Schöllhorn　Chief Executive Officer　Airbus Defence and Space ・Jan Hesthaven　President　Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) ・Robert de Groot　Vice-President　European Investment Bank ・Sven Weizenegger　Head of Cyber Innovation Hub　Cyber Innovation Hub der Bundswehr, BWI GmbH Session Summary: This panel explores practical strategies to modernize Europe's defense industrial base by

Session: European Defence: Creating the Industrial Landscape We Need Speaker: Michael Schöllhorn (CEO of Airbus Defence and Space; President of the German Aerospace Industries Association / BDLI) Session Summary: Michael Schöllhorn emphasizes that Europe must urgently transition from a security consumer to a sovereign producer by accelerating defense manufacturing and prioritizing a "Made in Europe" strategy. To build this resilient industrial base, he argues that the defense