SoftBank Robotics and ARRK Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement
- Providing seamless and comprehensive support from early stages of robot development to mass production and operation -
2025.05.20
SoftBank Robotics Corp.
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
ARRK Corporation
SoftBank Robotics Corp. (headquarters: Tokyo; President & CEO: TOMIZAWA Fumihide) and ARRK Corporation (Osaka; President & CEO: MOROZUMI Naoki), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu), today signed a strategic partnership agreement that will enable the two companies to provide customers with seamless and comprehensive support from early stages of robot development to mass production and operation. The partnership connects SoftBank Robotics’ Robot Support Service (RSS)*1, a comprehensive robot development support service, with ARRK's functions to support customers in all steps from developing robots to producing them and will allow the companies to establish a robust system to handle prototyping, small-lot production, mass production and operation.
SoftBank Robotics handles mass production, robot logistics, customer support including call center support and repairs, quality control, and legal and certification support. ARRK's product development capabilities have short delivery times and high-quality design, prototyping and evaluation, as well as its small- to medium-scale mass production system involving molds, moldings and small-lot manufacturing methods and will result in a system that can provide seamless comprehensive support from the early stages of development through mass production and operation.
By leveraging their respective strengths and responding to the diverse needs of robot developers and manufacturers globally, the companies aim to revitalize the entire robot industry.
Partnership Concept
About SoftBank Robotics
SoftBank Robotics has been at the forefront of robotics technology development since the launch of its humanoid robot Pepper in 2014. The group has consistently introduced innovation, including autonomous cleaning robots in 2018, multi-tray delivery robots in 2021, and automated logistics solutions consulting in 2022. Leveraging extensive knowledge and operational data, SoftBank Robotics is playing a pioneering role as a Robot Integrator (RI) by providing effective robotic implementation solutions. With a global presence in 21 locations across 9 countries, SoftBank Robotics' robots are deployed worldwide. The group is committed to advancing towards a society where people and robots coexist through robot transformation (RX).
About ARRK Corporation
Since its founding, ARRK has provided a wide range of support to customers in all industries as a product development support company, including product planning, design, product engineering, analytical simulation, prototyping, and production of molds and small-lot molded products. Now, as part of the Mitsui Chemicals Group, the company is also working on developing future products and services that utilize its knowledge and capabilities in materials, processing and analytical evaluation. ARRK aims to be companies' partner in turning their ideas for future products and services into reality. To remain a trusted development partner, ARRK will continue to further improve its ability to create what never existed before and make what was previously impossible possible.
*1 Robot Support Service (RSS): A service that supports various robot-related issues, such as robot concept design, development, and quality control.
Reference
- SoftBank Robotics Corp.：https://www.softbankrobotics.com/
- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.：https://jp.mitsuichemicals.com/en/index.htm
- ARRK Corporation：https://jp.arrk.com/en/
