Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was founded in Tokyo in 1884 and is one of Japan's largest industrial conglomerates; its shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the symbol 7011. The company operates in shipbuilding, energy and aerospace, and robotics was a side thread for it, not the main business. The best-known episode is Wakamaru, a yellow home and reception robot unveiled in January 2005, meant to greet guests and recognise faces. The launch price for Japanese households ran from USD 14,300 to 15,000. Retail sales ended as early as 2008, after which the robot was still offered for daily hire as a receptionist, at around USD 1,000 per day. Photos from 2014 show individual units moved to work at a waste-processing facility at a Japanese university. The group never released a successor to this model, so the history of its robotics is really the history of a single product. We have no information on plans to return to humanoid robots or on the number of units sold, so we draw no conclusions about the scale of the venture. As a reference point for today's market Wakamaru is useful: it shows how early commercial home robots were attempted and how hard it was to find buyers for them. Today's realities are described in “Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts”.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' robotics portfolio is a single product: the Wakamaru. The robot is 100 cm tall and moves on a single-wheel base at a speed of just 0.28 m/s. Its electric power supply lasts about 2 hours. The sensors include face recognition for up to eight people and a microphone with recognition of about 10,000 Japanese words. The maker envisaged two uses: a companion at home and a receptionist. Retail sales began in 2005 and ended in 2008, after which the robot remained on offer as a rental unit. The converted launch price is about PLN 55,430 (≈ EUR 12,700 at NBP rate 4.3641 of 21 October 2026) at the rate of 3.8762 as of 1 October 2026, but it has historical significance only. By comparison, modern designs in the home robots and service robots categories offer far more. How fast prices and parameters have moved can be seen in “How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in 2026”, and your own cost calculations are helped by “Humanoid Robot TCO: How to Calculate Total Cost”. The maker lists no other models or versions, so there is nothing to compare within its range, and the data on sensors and speed come from a historical description.

In today's humanoid market Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is not an active player. Wakamaru is a historical project, not a current offer, and there is no evidence of a continuation of the line or of newer versions. The group does not build a family of robots, as Unitree Robotics, UBTECH Robotics or Tesla do, but stayed with a single product from two decades ago. Its strength lies elsewhere: in heavy industry, ships, energy and aerospace. As Japanese rivals in home and service robots one can point to Honda Motor Co. with the Honda Avatar Robot and Toyota Motor with the Toyota T-HR3, who developed their programmes further. Setting it beside these brands makes clear that MHI's market position in robotics is determined not by technology but by a programme that ended. The manufacturer currently gives no data on further robotics plans. For the reader this means that Wakamaru is worth knowing as an example from the industry's history, but not as a product to buy.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries gives no data on a presence in Poland in the robotics area, and Wakamaru was never sold here. We also have no documented Polish deployments or a distributor. Since retail sales ended in 2008, there is today no purchase route for a new unit either. A reader looking for a service or reception robot for a Polish hotel or office will find current proposals in “Service Robots in Restaurants and Hotels” and in the section “Hotel Robots: Cleaning, Delivery and Reception”. Investment costs in Poland are addressed in “Poland's Robotization Tax Relief”. We give the 2005 price only as a curiosity.

Wakamaru is an interesting testimony to early attempts to introduce home robots, but not an offer for today. Sales ended in 2008, there was no successor, and the robot was never sold in Poland. Recommendation: know it as industry history, do not consider it as a purchase. Anyone seeking a modern reception robot should compare current service models. Before any purchasing decision, check the current offers of other manufacturers and compare their prices.