The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies SoftBank Robotics: 2 models, 4 deployments across 4 regions, 1 active incident. 7 sources back the record.
CategoryHumanoids
Overview
SoftBank Robotics is a division of Softbank group developing humanoid and service robots. Products include Pepper (social humanoid), NAO (education humanoid), and Whiz (autonomous cleaning robot). Pioneered social robotics and commercial cleaning automation.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 4 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- 1 incident on file
Key facts
Focus
Robot
Technology
Scale
Acquired by
Current status
Strategy shifted
Parent
Data & sources
Patent documents
5
Web sources
2
7 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Paused
Pepper
SoftBank Robotics' Pepper is a semi-humanoid social robot (from Aldebaran heritage) designed to read and respond to human emotion and engage people through conversation and a chest-mounted touchscreen, used in retail, hospitality, and research.
Current platform
SoftBank Whiz
Autonomous commercial vacuum robot powered by Brain Corp's BrainOS. Teach-and-repeat mapped routes with autonomous obstacle avoidance; cleans up to ~1,500 m2 per charge. 10,000+ units in offices, hotels, airports and hospitals.
Partnerships
Every company SoftBank Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Brain Corp1× joint6 total
- 2Foxconn (Hon Hai)1× joint5 total
- 3Gaussian Robotics1× joint1 total
- 4RobotLAB1× joint
- 5SoftBank1× joint13 total
- 6United Robotics Group1× joint1 total
Most recent
- with United Robotics Groupoperating
- Gaussian Robotics x SoftBank Robotics2021-11-11with Gaussian Roboticsoperating
- Brain Corp x SoftBank Robotics2019-01-01with Brain Corpoperating
- Foxconn manufactures Pepper robot2014-06-05with Foxconn (Hon Hai)operating
- with SoftBankoperating
SoftBank Robotics on the deployment map
View the global map4 verified deployments across 4 regions, newest verified Jun 2024. Explore where SoftBank Robotics's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full SoftBank Robotics deployment record →
Relationships
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about SoftBank Robotics, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
What are commercial cleaning robots and how do they work?
What is Brain Corp BrainOS and which cleaning robots use it?
What is SoftBank Robotics Whiz and how does it clean?
Current leadership (2)
- Masayoshi Son Founder & CEO, SoftBank Group (unveiled Pepper in 2014)SEC-verified
- Bruno Maisonnier Founder of Aldebaran Roboticssince 2005-01-01SEC-verified
ArrivalsBruno Maisonnier from NAO Robot
DeparturesBruno Maisonnier to NAO Robot
Founders (1)
- Bruno Maisonniersolefounded 2005-01-01no longer at company
previously at NAO Robot
later founded NAO Robot, Aldebaran Robotics
Former / Previously (1)
- Kaname Hayashi Robot Development Leader (Pepper)2014 to 2015reported, not verified
Safety record
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Incidents affecting SoftBank Robotics (1)
Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Operator customers (1)
- SoftBank Robotics4 deployments
Recent coverage
SoftBank Robotics in third-party press
Peers
238 peers across 3 segments. Every SoftBank Robotics competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
service(144)
113 companies in this segment · competitive (HHI 831.3520919269878) · leader Bond at 1957%
humanoid(91)
68 companies in this segment · competitive (HHI 574.5255335898561) · leader Figure AI at 1207%
- 1X Technologiesdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AI2 Roboticsdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AIST Humanoid Research Groupdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Acuminodirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AgiBotdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Agility Roboticsdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
cleaning robot(3)
- Gausiumdirect competitor(reported)strong
- ICE Coboticsdirect competitor(reported)moderate
- LionsBotdirect competitor(reported)moderate
Mentioned on (19)
Registry pages whose text names SoftBank Robotics.
Companies (8)
dConstruct Technologies, Groove X, Enchanted Tools, Pangolin Robot, United Robotics Group, Bear Robotics, Living.ai, NAO Robot
Robots and products (3)
Deployments (6)
Pepper at London, Pepper at Tokyo, Pepper at Montreal, Servi at Japan, Gausium Phantas at Japan, SoftBank Whiz at United States
People (2)
Supplied by (1)
Foundation model / software
- Brain Corpvia SoftBank WhizBrainOS autonomous-navigation platformlicenses
Inbound supply edges feeding this company directly or via the models it owns. Same source bar as the outbound view (verified against at least two strong sources).
Partnerships
6 total · 6 operating · 3 ended
Every company SoftBank Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- with United Robotics Groupoperating
- Gaussian Robotics x SoftBank Robotics2021-11-11with Gaussian Roboticsoperating
- Brain Corp x SoftBank Robotics2019-01-01with Brain Corpoperating
- Foxconn manufactures Pepper robot2014-06-05with Foxconn (Hon Hai)operating
- with SoftBankoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1Brain Corp1× joint6 total
- 2Foxconn (Hon Hai)1× joint5 total
- 3Gaussian Robotics1× joint1 total
- 4RobotLAB1× joint
- 5SoftBank1× joint13 total
- 6United Robotics Group1× joint1 total
All 6 partnerships
open in the atlas →- distribution—operating
- distribution2021-11-11operating
- technology2019-01-01operating
- investment2022-01-01concludedoperating
- manufacturing2014-06-05concludedoperating
- investment2012-01-01concludedoperating
Patent estate (5)
- US10232508B2usptograntedgranted 2019-03-19assignee
- US20170120446A1usptopendingassignee
- US4638445Ausptograntedgranted 1987-01-20assignee
- EP2386924A1epopendingassignee
- US20140039680A1usptopendingassignee
Timeline
Every recorded move in SoftBank Robotics’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
DepartureBruno Maisonnier departs
2026-08-23Bruno Maisonnier left to join NAO Robot
ArrivalBruno Maisonnier joins
2026-08-23Bruno Maisonnier joined from NAO Robot
New supplierNew supplier: Nidec Corporation
2026-08-23Supply: Servo motors for Pepper joints from Nidec Corporation
New supplierNew supplier: SoftBank Group
2026-08-23Supply: Cloud services and AI platform from SoftBank Group
New supplierNew supplier: NVIDIA
2026-08-23Supply: GPU for vision processing from NVIDIA
New supplierNew supplier: Qualcomm
2026-08-23Supply: Snapdragon SoC for Pepper/NAO from Qualcomm
PartnershipUnited Robotics Group acquires SoftBank Robotics Europe
2022-01-01United Robotics Group (URG) acquired SoftBank Robotics Europe (maker of Pepper and Nao) in 2022 and rebranded it back to Aldebaran. URG stopped funding Aldebaran in 2024, leading to receivership in 2025.
PartnershipGaussian Robotics x SoftBank Robotics
2021-11-11SoftBank Robotics partnered with Gaussian Robotics for global go-to-market initiatives, distributing Gausium cleaning robots in Japan (2,000+ Phantas units) and other international markets. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 also led the $188M Series C investment.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 6, 2026
SoftBank Whiz autonomous vacuum
- Record createdJun 6, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
SoftBank Whiz at United States
- Incident recordedJun 28, 2021
Pepper robots reported to make mechanical errors, take unplanned breaks, and fail to...
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJan 1, 2017
Pepper at Montreal
Sources (2)
Common questions
What is SoftBank Robotics?
What does SoftBank Robotics make?
Is SoftBank Robotics publicly traded?
Who competes with SoftBank Robotics?
Who is the CEO of SoftBank Robotics?
How can I invest in SoftBank Robotics?
Where is SoftBank Robotics headquartered?
Who owns SoftBank Robotics?
Where does SoftBank Robotics operate robots?
How many robots has SoftBank Robotics deployed?
Is SoftBank Robotics a top robotics company?
When was SoftBank Robotics founded?
Are there any incidents involving SoftBank Robotics?
Is SoftBank Robotics safe?
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-10
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-10
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for SoftBank Robotics.Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics12 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Dobot6 models
- 1X Technologies5 models
- AgiBot5 models
- AheadForm5 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning SoftBank Robotics from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
SoftBank Robotics, SJ Group partner on AI facilities management
The firms plan robotics pilots at operational sites in Singapore, including SJ Campus.
Robot Cleaning Fleets Take Off: Flagship and SoftBank Robotics America Scale Airport Automation to 200+ Robots
Airport floors are getting a lot more help these days, and it's coming from machines. Flagship Aviation Services and SoftBank Robotics America announced that they've significantly…
SoftBank starts mass production of AI robots
SoftBank Robotics Commences Mass Production
Icetana AI Signs Distribution Agreement With Softbank Robotics America
Icetana Extends SoftBank Robotics Distribution Partnership into Americas
SoftBank Pepper Review [2026]: Verdict, Strengths & Limitations
SOFTBANK ROBOTICS AMERICA AND DIRECT SUPPLY EXPAND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITIES
SoftBank Robotics: Autonomous Cooking Robots “STEAMA” and “FLAMA” to Debut in the U.S.
SoftBank looks to form robotics unit focused on data center construction - report
SoftBank’s $100B Roze IPO: Robots to Build AI Data Centers
Matternet and SoftBank Robotics America Partner to Scale Drone Delivery Networks
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/softbank-robotics.md
- RSS feed: /companies/softbank-robotics/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/dc90f3a2-c89c-4a16-b476-395812829f14
- Revision history: /companies/softbank-robotics/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics12 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Dobot6 models
- 1X Technologies5 models
- AgiBot5 models
- AheadForm5 models
Video
Pepper is the emotional humanoid robot built to benefit mankind. There's only one thing Pepper isn't: a finished product. That's where you come in: http://devel
Pepper is a semi-humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics, designed with the ability to read emotions.
Before SoftBank announced their intention to acquire ARM, here's the latest SoftBank Pepper Personal Robot with Artificial Intelligence deployed all over Japan,
#AVTweeps #AV #ISE2020 ISE 2020: SoftBank Robotics Europe Demos Pepper the Humanoid Robot View all the latest product demos, live interviews and more from t
Softbank robotics Pepper Robo increasing savings and customer interaction with artificial Intelligence. Softbank Robotics Pepper humanoid Robot technology expl
#nao #naorobot #ai #pepper #pepperrobot #peppers #softbank #softbankrobotics Pepper and Nao are humanoid robots developed by SoftBank Robotics. Pepper is desig
Heat Index
Serious54/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
SoftBank Robotics draws attention at the 87th percentile but verifies reality at the 49th percentile among humanoids. Hype Gap +38.5, 17th widest among humanoids.
6-month trend
Analysis
Safety profile within acceptable range for category. Meaningful press and media coverage across the period. Thin IP estate relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 20, 2026