Kawada NEXTAGE
NEXTAGE is a humanoid-style dual-arm industrial robot from Kawada that works alongside people on assembly lines, one of the earliest humanoids used in production.
Kawada Robotics press imageWe have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. Treat the score as a starting point, not a recommendation.
How the score is built
Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.
What people buy instead.
- Status
- Commercial
- Category
- industrial
- First revealed
- 2009
- Form
- upper-body
- Height
- n/a
- Weight
- n/a
- Payload
- 1.5 kg
- Degrees of freedom
- 15
- Battery
- n/a
- Runtime
- n/a
- Walking speed
- n/a
- Actuation
- electric
- Units deployed (est.)
- not disclosed
- Teleoperation
- no
Where it stands
Upper-body dual-arm humanoid sold to factories since 2009; updated NEXTAGE Fillie in 2022.
What stands out
- In factory use since 2010
Autonomy, observed
Assembly and kitting work in Japanese factories such as Glory Ltd since 2010.
Hands, sensors, brain
- Hands: tool-changeable hands with cameras
- Sensors: head stereo cameras, hand cameras
Price and volume
Sold on quotation; early reports cited around JPY 7.4 million.
Index position
In the Humanoid Index, which ranks on shipped reality rather than value for money, Kawada NEXTAGE sits at #5 of 107 with 56 points: deployment 14/50, autonomy 28/30, availability 14/20. See that method.
Figure AI: what $39 billion has shown so far
Four rounds, $1,754,000,000 raised, one named customer, no price and no unit count. The record on the most valuable humanoid company, generation by generation.
How a humanoid robot works: actuators, compute, sensors and the model
Of 182 humanoids on record, 178 say what moves the joints and 43 say what computer is inside. The further a layer sits from the metal, the less the maker tells you about it.
Japan built the first humanoids, then stopped shipping them
Japan has 24 humanoids and 12 makers in our record, more than any country except China and the United States. Two of the 24 can be ordered today, and both were first shown in 2009.
Startups, automakers, universities: who builds humanoids
108 makers, nine kinds. Startups hold 37 of the 44 humanoids you can order. Automakers, universities, big tech, conglomerates and NASA hold 45 robots between them and sell none of them.
What humanoid robots can actually do in 2026
Of 182 humanoid robots on record, 117 have a human in the loop, 33 have ever worked at a customer site and none has a verified fleet count. Here is what that leaves.
Sources
- 01Kawada Robotics NEXTAGEKawada Robotics
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