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ResearchJapan

Waseda University / JST Moonshot program · care humanoid

AIREC

Dry-AIREC

A 150 kg AI-driven care humanoid on a wheeled base being developed for Japan's carer shortage, for repositioning, hygiene help and mobility support. Date is the earliest public demo found, not necessarily first build.

Price
—Not for sale; Waseda estimates a cost of at least 10 million yen (about $67,000).
Height
—Not published
Weight
150 kgHeavier than 93%
Payload
—Not published
Speed
—Not published
Battery
—Not published
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Not sure this is the one? Find the best robot for your job Starts with: care and hospitals. Five more quick questions.

Why it matters

Showed a humanoid rolling a lying person onto their side, a core nursing task, in a 2025 demo.

Real-world use

No customers or deployments reported yet.

Timeline

First shown
2025-02
Released
Not yet
Waseda lab demonstration (Reuters)

Maker

Waseda University / JST Moonshot programUniversity lab · founded 1882 · Tokyo, Japan

Government research funding through the JST Moonshot programme (amount not stated).

How it stacks up

Against other humanoids that publish the figure. Pick a measure.

  1. CASBOT W1CASBOT (Beijing Zhongke Huiling Robot Technology) · 2025260 kg
  2. AIREC (Dry-AIREC)Waseda University / JST Moonshot program · 2025150 kg
  3. AI WorkerROBOTIS · 202590 kg
  4. Spaceo ProMuks Robotics · 202560 kg
  5. CASBOT 02CASBOT (Beijing Zhongke Huiling Robot Technology) · 202550 kg
  6. N2Noetix Robotics · 202530 kg
  7. NEO (home robot)1X Technologies · 202530 kg
  8. K1Booster Robotics · 202519.5 kg

AIREC (Dry-AIREC) is heavier than 93% of the 277 other humanoids that publish a weight. Bars show the 7 closest in date.

Weight 150 kg 1 kg320 kg #20 of 278 · heavier than 93%

Not published by the maker: height, speed, payload, joints, battery, price.

What it has been shown doing

1 of 14 skills we track, each from a public video or report. Demos can be staged or remote-controlled; we say so when the source does.

  • Fold laundryDemoSugano lab showed a laundry-folding demo at Expo 2025 using the AIREC-Basic variant, plus a sock-dressing demo · Aug 2025 · sugano.mech.waseda.ac.jp

Not shown yet:SortAssembleKitchenToolsFineStairsTerrainGet upRunJumpCarryOn siteAutonomous

Public attention

How much public attention AIREC (Dry-AIREC) gets, from open data.

  • No Wikipedia article of its own yet
  • 1 news story from reputable press listed on this page

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Hands
unknown
Movement
Wheeled base
Actuators & motors
Built on Tokyo Robotics' Torobo humanoid platform; compliance mode regulates joint stiffness and impedance control governs force.
Sensors & vision
Somatosensory (touch/force) and optical sensors; RGB camera feeding a convolutional autoencoder that extracts spatial attention points.
AI & software
EIPL deep-learning architecture predicting future states; SKNet attention over joint angles and torques; motion-capture direct teaching synchronised with an operator.
Other details
Part of Japan's JST Moonshot Goal 3 programme; project now led by Tetsuya Ogata (FY2026), earlier by Shigeki Sugano.

Lineage

Every Waseda University / JST Moonshot program humanoid in order.

  1. WABOT-1WABOT-11973Retired
  2. WABOT-2WABOT-21984Retired
  3. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useHadaly-21997Retired
  4. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWABIAN1997Retired
  5. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWE-4RII2004Retired
  6. WABIAN-2WABIAN-22006Retired
  7. TWENDY-ONETWENDY-ONE2007Research
  8. KOBIANKOBIAN2009Research
  9. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWaseda Flutist Robot WF-4RVI2011Retired
  10. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useAIREC (Dry-AIREC)2025Research

Watch AIREC (Dry-AIREC)

Video: AIREC Waseda on YouTube. Plays from youtube-nocookie.com when you press play.

Made, sold and where

Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.

Price
Not publishedNot for sale; Waseda estimates a cost of at least 10 million yen (about $67,000).
How to get one
No official buying page found
Built
Research prototype; Waseda targets care-facility readiness around 2030.

News

The latest 1, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.

  1. AIREC demonstrated rolling a patient for care tasks

    Waseda's 150 kg robot is still in testing; cost estimated at 10 million yen or more.

    Interesting Engineering

Side by side with its peers

Picked by the same rules for every humanoid: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. Few robots match closely, so these are the nearest matches. How we choose

Full comparison
MeasureNo public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useAIREC (Dry-AIREC)Waseda University / JST Moonshot programARMAR-7ARMAR-7Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (H2T, Tamim Asfour)Same job: care · Both on wheels · Both research platforms
First shown2025-022024-06
StatusResearchResearch
Height——
Weight150 kg—
Joints——
Speed——
Payload——
Battery——
Price——

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

ABS-CBN / Reuters Aging Japan turns to AI robots to care for older people Interesting Engineering Japan tests AIREC robot easing elderly care Japan Science and Technology Agency Moonshot Goal 3 programme Logo: Waseda University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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