GMO AI & Robotics Corp. (GMO AIR) will begin operating what the company describes as Japan's first dedicated maintenance vehicle for humanoid robots in Tokyo in September 20261,2. The "GMO Humanoid Ambulance," unveiled to press on September 8, 2026, carries diagnostic equipment, key components, repair tools, and a replacement humanoid unit, with a technician on board to perform on-site repairs3.
When immediate repair is not feasible, the malfunctioning robot will be swapped for a spare unit and transported to a repair facility. The company will initially operate a single vehicle in central Tokyo, targeting a one-to-two-hour response time from its Shibuya research hub, with plans to expand to regional bases in the coming years. The service currently covers only robots deployed by GMO AIR.
Humanoid engineers from the GMO Humanoid Lab Shibuya Showroom, described as GMO Internet Group's physical AI development center, will accompany each response. Those engineers support secondary development of humanoid robots and have hands-on experience operating and maintaining the machines.
"We aim to devote our efforts to initiatives that support the social implementation and operation of humanoids," said GMO AIR President Tomohiro Uchida, who described the vehicle as the first of its kind in Japan specializing in humanoid repairs.
Alongside the ambulance, GMO AIR announced a second new service, "GMO LOOP for Physical AI," which uses field data to continuously improve humanoid robot performance. The company also introduced a service that monitors network communications for unauthorized access to support safe operation of deployed humanoids.
GMO AIR, founded in June 2024 as a general trading company specializing in AI and robotics, holds a domestic distribution agreement with China's Unitree Robotics. The company's model extends beyond selling humanoid robots to covering operation, improvement, and maintenance after deployment.
The launch arrives amid broader humanoid deployment activity in Japan. GMO Internet Group and Japan Airlines started a demonstration experiment in May using humanoid robots to transport passengers' luggage at Tokyo's Haneda airport. Separately, KDDI Corp. launched a pilot scheme in Osaka in August in which humanoid robots developed by KDDI and others are used for customer service at railway stations.
Japan's government announced an "AI Robotics Strategy" in April 2026 that sets a target for the country's robotics industry to capture over 30 percent of the global market share by 2040, representing a market the strategy values at ¥20 trillion (approximately $129.7 billion). A 2025 McKinsey report cited by one source estimates the market for multipurpose robots could reach about $370 billion by 2040.
ANALYSIS The ambulance concept treats humanoid uptime as a service-level problem rather than a hardware-sales afterthought, bundling rapid physical response with data-driven performance tuning and cybersecurity monitoring into a post-deployment stack. Restricting the service to GMO AIR's own deployed robots keeps scope narrow for now but positions the company to accumulate maintenance data that could differentiate its offering as humanoid fleets scale.