Mitsubishi Electric Backs Startup to Push Into AI Factory Robots

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is backing construction-tech startup Akari Inc., the latest in a sector-wide quest for knowhow to fully automate factories and train robots to react to different situations.

Mitsubishi Electric, a maker of industrial electronics and factory automation, said it will invest ¥5 billion ($32 million) in Akari and collaborate on teaching robots to recalibrate their movements in real time to master multiple tasks — a key step to full automation.