MW Unveils Robot Equipped Living Home and Wins GENIAC Backing

MW unveiled Living Home, a housing concept that combines architecture, AI software and a household robot, at a press launch in Tokyo on 10 September, according to the company's announcement (in Japanese). The startup gave the first live demonstration of its MW bot prototype carrying out household tasks, moving the trailer home it uses for development and testing into the venue.

MW describes the home as having three parts designed together with the building: sensors that perceive the environment, AI software called MW Intelligence that interprets and learns, and MW bot, which performs chores such as cleaning and laundry. The company said the approach is meant to achieve safety and task performance that are hard to reach with humanoid robots in Japan's small homes. It is developing properties in several areas of Tokyo as well as Yokohama, Fukuoka, Karuizawa and Futtsu.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO selected MW's research on a robot foundation model specialised for home environments for the GENIAC program on 9 September. MW said it will use the selection to develop the next generation MW bot body and a mass production setup, expand large scale data collection, build the foundation model, and test AI robots in real homes the company builds itself.

Bloomberg reported that MW aims to sell its first robot equipped home in Tokyo by 2028 and to build as many as 10,000 homes a year by 2035, according to chief executive Shuzo Narita, and that the company raised a cumulative 3 billion yen in a seed round earlier this year.