One-third of Japanese companies are already using or considering deploying AI-powered robots, with automakers and other transportation equipment manufacturers leading the way, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday.The Japanese government expects the introduction of AI robots into the workplace to be key in coping with the country’s chronic labour shortage and cementing its position as a leading industrial robot supplier.Home to Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Japan has been a global powerhouse in conventional industrial robotics.

But it now faces tougher competition from China and the United States in AI-enabled robots, which have a certain degree of autonomy to judge their environment and choose their action accordingly, rather than just repeating pre-defined tasks.About 4% of respondents are already using AI robots, 5% plan to deploy them, and 25% are considering doing so, while the ⁠remaining 66% have no such plans, the survey showed.Transportation equipment makers are the most aggressive adopters of AI-equipped robots, with 80% already using them or looking into utilising them. By contrast, 94% of respondents in the wholesale sector have no plan to deploy AI robots.

Among the pool of respondents who are already using, planning to use or considering using AI robots, 71% chose manufacturing as a specific usage, 19% picked tasks with certain danger and 11% selected customer-facing services.The poll question allowed multiple answers.The poll was conducted by Nikkei Research for Reuters from May 1-15. Nikkei Research reached out to 492 companies, of which 220 responded on the condition of anonymity.