Physical AI

What is Motoman NEXT?

Motoman NEXT is an autonomous, adaptive robotics platform designed to move beyond traditional, fixed programming toward AI-driven judgment and execution. It is built to handle “semi-structured” to “unstructured" environments—meaning it can adapt to changes in part positioning, lighting, or task requirements in real-time without needing a human to rewrite code.

From Automation to Autonomy

Motoman NEXT is intended for applications that require high levels of intelligence and flexibility, particularly in fields that were previously difficult to automate due to variable environments. Physical AI is enabling robots to perceive, reason, and adapt like a human operator.

Explore What's NEXT

Robots

Controller

Services

Open New Areas of Automation

Logistics

Handling thousands of SKUs with varied shapes, weights, and packaging. Using 3D vision and autonomous path planning to pick randomly oriented parts from deep bins without collisions.

Life Sciences

Managing specimen transport, de-capping, and sorting of thousands of unique patient tubes.

Bio-Medical

High-precision liquid handling and automated testing where robots must adapt to different labware configurations without extensive re-programming.

Agriculture

Vertical farming tasks such as autonomous seedling planting, crop pruning, and harvesting where the environment changes as plants grow.

Food & Beverage

Robotic automated kitchens that can perform frying, plating, and assembly tasks alongside humans.

eCommerce Fulfillment

Automatically identifying and placing packages onto sorter trays in high-speed warehouse environments.

Physical AI Webinars

Motoman NEXT Robots

NEX Series

AI Services

Path Planning

Dynamic, Collision-Free Motion for Autonomous Environments
The Path Planning Service is a cornerstone of the Motoman NEXT platform, enabling robots to navigate complex work cells autonomously. Whether called via a user application Docker or a simple MOVAUTO skill within a block-language interface, this service bridges the gap between high-level intent and precise physical execution.
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Force Control

High-Precision Tactile Intelligence for Sensitive Automations
The Force Control Service empowers Motoman NEXT robots with the "sense of touch," enabling them to handle delicate materials and perform high-precision tasks. Accessible via user applications in any Docker container or through intuitive Force Control skills (TOUCH, FIT, INSERT), this service allows for seamless integration of tactile feedback into your automation workflow.

Machine Vision

Integrated Perception for Intelligent Automation and Adaptive Execution
The Machine Vision Service provides a comprehensive suite of tools and routines designed to simplify the integration of visual intelligence. From initial setup and calibration to real-time image capture and processing, this service supports 2D and 3D camera systems. By bridging the gap between raw visual data and robotic action, it enables Motoman NEXT robots to interact with their environment with human-like precision.

AI Service

Cognitive Autonomy for Unstructured and High-Mix Environments
The AI Service is the cognitive engine of the Motoman NEXT platform, transforming the robot from a repetitive machine into an intelligent agent capable of human-like decision-making. By leveraging the Alliom AI engine (developed by Yaskawa's AI Cube) and an open ecosystem, this service allows the robot to "think on its feet." Whether running proprietary neural networks or third-party models, the AI Service processes data directly at the edge within the Autonomous Control Unit (ACU) to eliminate latency and dependency on external PCs.

Robot Control

The Bridge Between IT Logic and High-Performance Motion Execution
The Robot Control Service is the real-time engine that translates high-level data from the Autonomous Control Unit (ACU) into precise, signal-based physical movements. By providing direct code integration for I/Os, variables, and motion commands, this service allows IT developers to execute complex maneuvers with the same reliability and precision as expert robot programmers.

Feature	Description
Perception-Driven	Recognition of the environment via 3D vision sensors to update the environment model.
MOVAUTO Skills	High-level statements that allow a robot arm to exit machines safely or pick items from various positions without manual waypoints.
Dynamic Pathing	Real-time generation of paths that adjust to avoid new obstacles as they appear.
Tool Posture Control	Choose between FREE (robot optimizes orientation) or FIX (fixed tool orientation) to define how the robot moves between points.

Sim-to-Real

Sim-to-Real Programming is the bridge that makes adaptive, AI-driven automation commercially viable. By combining high-precision hardware with identical digital twin software, we eliminate the 'guesswork' of AI deployment, ensuring your robot is productive from the first second it's powered on.

YNX Robot Simulator

The YNX Robot Simulator is a professional simulation and engineering tool designed specifically for the Motoman NEXT platform. It serves as a digital twin environment that bridges the gap between AI development and physical robot execution.

Digital Twin & Virtual Cell Creation

3D Environment: It allows you to build complete virtual work cells, replicating the physical layout of your production floor.

High Fidelity: The simulator is optimized for the NEX-series robots, which use high-inertia servomotors to ensure that the digital model's behavior matches the real-world operation exactly.

AI & Scenario Validation

Edge Integration: Because Motoman NEXT uses an Autonomous Control Unit, the YNX simulator is built to validate AI-driven scenarios, such as vision-based picking or adaptive motion planning.

Path Testing: You can test complex trajectories and "on-the-fly" motion generation in the safety of a virtual space before deploying code to the physical controller.

Advanced Integration

Ecosystem Compatibility: It works alongside modern tools like NVIDIA Isaac Sim and CuMotion, allowing for highly sophisticated physics-based simulations and GPU-accelerated path planning.

Offline Programming (OLP): Like MotoSim, it enables users to program and optimize robotic tasks without stopping production on the actual hardware.

ACU Software Development Kit

The Motoman NEXT ACU SDK (Software Development Kit) provides the software toolchain needed to build custom, containerized applications that execute directly on the Autonomous Control Unit (ACU).

Included Components

The ACU SDK delivers four core software pillars:

Cross-Compilation Environment
API Definition Files
Container Base Image
Build & Packaging Scripts

Core Architectural Concepts

Cross-Compilation Workflow Application development occurs on an x86-64 Linux PC, while target execution happens on the ARM-based ACU architecture. The SDK handles toolchain target-matching so C/C++ code, libraries, and dependencies compile cleanly for the ARM target without requiring native compilation on the physical robot controller.

gRPC & Service-Oriented Architecture Rather than writing low-level trajectory generators or custom vision loops, developers build orchestration logic. Applications communicate with native NEXT services (Robot Control, Path Planning, Machine Vision, AI Inference) via high-performance gRPC interfaces and Protocol Buffers (.proto).

Modern Containerization (Docker) Replacing legacy proprietary environments (such as MotoPlus), applications run inside isolated Docker containers. This enables developer teams to incorporate modern third-party libraries and frameworks, including OpenCV, ROS 2, and TensorFlow, directly into the application runtime.

ACU Dev Kit

As manufacturers continue exploring Physical AI and more intelligent automation, developers need the flexibility to build, test, and validate new ideas.

The Motoman NEXT ACU Development Kit gives developers, system integrators, researchers, and OEMs an open platform to develop custom software, integrate third-party technologies, and accelerate the next generation of robotic applications.

Whether you're exploring AI-powered vision or creating advanced automation workflows, the ACU Development Kit is designed to help you innovate with confidence.

Contact us to learn more and get started with NEXT

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