Yaskawa builds a robot hub in Slovenia and pairs Motoman with Gemini

Yaskawa builds a robot hub in Slovenia and pairs Motoman with Gemini

15 July 2026: Yaskawa Electric has set up a European Robotics Distribution Center in Kocevje, Slovenia, an investment of about 5 billion yen that raises its manipulator production capacity to 850 units a month. Two weeks later it announced an agentic robot system that combines its MOTOMAN NEXT platform with Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics ER 1.6.

Not yet independently verified. Both announcements rest on Yaskawa's own releases. The HC12 page gives a sale date of 31 August on a release dated 14 September without explaining the gap. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Two sites of 10,000 square metres

Yaskawa announced the Slovenian investment on 1 July. Yaskawa Europe Robotics d.o.o. created the distribution centre, known as ERDC, in Kocevje, on Ulica Daigora Yasukawe, next to an existing factory. Yaskawa Ristro d.o.o. moved to the same site from Ribnica and expanded. Each site covers about 10,000 square metres.

The company lists these aims:

• strengthen the robotics business in Europe, which it expects to grow
• centralise logistics to shorten delivery lead times, cut logistics costs and optimise inventory
• bring development, production and system-factory functions together at the Ristro site
• make the site a hub for solution technology to support customers
• expand robot production capacity and extend robot systems to construction machinery, agricultural machinery and automotive

The product focus is industrial robots, known as manipulators, and robot systems. The release says the initiative will streamline the logistics system and expand production capacity for the European robotics business.

The agentic robot system

On 15 July Yaskawa announced the system it developed with Google DeepMind. Gemini Robotics ER 1.6 is an embodied reasoning model, and it lets a robot assess conditions on site, devise its own work procedure and carry it out. In the release's example a person says "Please sort these parts", and the robot recognises the situation and runs the series of tasks itself. Yaskawa presents the system as a response to a worsening labour shortage.

The company describes a division of labour between a smart brain and a smart body. Generative AI decides what needs to be done, and MOTOMAN NEXT decides how to move, because the physical reliability of the robot is what turns AI decisions into action. MOTOMAN NEXT supplies three built-in services:

• machine vision, which recognises site conditions and the position and shape of objects
• path planning, which plans and runs safe, obstacle-avoiding movements toward goals such as picking up an object
• force sensing, which detects contact and grip status to confirm an object is held securely

Yaskawa lists three features. The robot needs no detailed programming, since generative AI builds work procedures from general instructions with no prior teaching. It recovers from errors, for example by recognising a dropped part and repeating the task. And it links on-site work to production management and other internal systems, for example sharing order information when a parts shortage is detected. Yaskawa says it will announce application areas and availability once preparations are complete.

A smaller cobot arrives in September

On 14 September the company announced the MOTOMAN-HC12 collaborative robot, successor to the MOTOMAN-HC10DTP. It carries a 12 kg payload with a 1,410 mm reach, and its base footprint of 170 mm diameter compares with 275 mm on the model it replaces. Yaskawa developed the torque sensors in house to improve collision detection and response, which lets the arm work faster in collaborative tasks while limiting impact force on contact with a person. Application cables, including Cat6A Ethernet, run inside the arm with connections at the wrist.

Yaskawa lists palletising, screwdriving, arc welding and inspection among the uses, and the price is listed as open. Yaskawa Electric has its headquarters in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan.

Related on TrustList:

• Doosan Robotics wins two Korean Physical AI projects worth KRW 98.9 billion
• FANUC and Hitachi team up to put learning robots into real production
• US industrial robot installations rise 11% to 38,000 units, says IFR

Sources

• Yaskawa news release: European Robotics Distribution Center in Slovenia, 1 July 2026
• Yaskawa news release: Agentic Robot System with MOTOMAN NEXT, 15 July 2026
• Yaskawa product release: MOTOMAN-HC12 collaborative robot, 14 September 2026