Cross-Border Robotics & Physical AI: Japan x China
Venture in Japan & Tech Tabi in collaboration with Shenzhen Robotics Presents a Panel Series Discussing Robotics in Japan
Location: Google for Startups in Shibuya
Shibuya Stream, 3 Chome-21-3 Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0002
Panel Discussions Include:
Japan Robotics: From Legacy Strength to Next Growth Wave
China Robotics: Current Landscape & 2026 Priorities
Panel Speakers:
Japan Robotics: From Legacy Strength to Next Growth Wave
Moderator: Jeremy Proctor - Venture in Japan / Investor Headline Asia
Speaker
Michael Spranger - COO at Sony Research / President Sony AI
Junji Takaoka - Incubation Partner and Head of the Startup Building at UTokyo IPC
Hironori Ishimaru - Managing Director, Eureka Robotics Japan
Hoon Lee - Head of Japan at RLWRLD, a Seoul-based Physical AI startup developing robotics foundation models
China Robotics: Current Landscape & 2026 Priorities
Moderator: Qiang Bai — Serial entrepreneur and investor with three IPO experiences in the US and China, including iFLYTEK
Speaker
Xin Wang — SVP of Beyondsoft
Roch N — CMO, Noitom Robotics and Founder of RKG Creative (ROCK Group Advertising)
Haofei Liu — Founding partner of PeakView Capital
Jiaxiang Yang — General Manager of Pudu Robotics Japan
Kristine Mo — VP of Global Market and Ecosystem at AI² Robotics
Agenda
6:00pm - Doors Open
6:30pm - China Robotics: Current Landscape & 2026 Priorities
7:30pm - Japan Robotics: From Legacy Strength to Next Growth Wave
8:30pm - 10:00pm - Networking
🔊 Speakers
Michael Spranger - COO at Sony Research / President Sony AI
Michael Spranger is the Senior Executive Director of Sony Research Inc., and President of Sony AI. He is a roboticist by training with extensive research experience in fields such as natural language processing, robotics, and foundations of ArtificialIntelligence. Michael has published more than 100 papers at top AI conferences such as IJCAI, NeurIPS and others.
Junji Takaoka - Partner at Tokyo IPC, a University of Tokyo–affiliated venture firm
Junji Takaoka (Kevin) is a serial entrepreneur and serves as Incubation Partner and Head of the Startup Building Program at UTokyo IPC, the University of Tokyo’s venture capital arm. He works hands-on with researchers, founders, and global investors to translate frontier academic research into scalable, globally competitive ventures.
He also leads the Global Startup Campus (GATS) Program under the Cabinet Office of Japan / JST, where he heads Japan’s flagship initiative to attract world-class talent and capital and accelerate the creation of globally competitive deep-tech startups.
Hironori Ishimaru - Managing Director, Eureka Robotics Japan
Hironori Ishimaru is Managing Director of Eureka Robotics Japan, leading the company’s market expansion across sales, engineering, marketing, and HR. Previously, he headed Basler Japan and later served as President and Representative Director of KUKA Japan, driving significant growth. With deep leadership experience in robotics, industrial automation, and machine vision, he brings strong execution and market insight to advancing intelligent automation in Japan.
Hoon Lee - Head of Japan at RLWRLD, a Seoul-based Physical AI startup developing robotics foundation models
Hoon Lee is the CEO of RLWRLD Japan, leading business integration and market expansion in Japan for Physical AI solutions. He brings extensive experience in strategy and cross-border partnerships from roles at Boston Consulting Group, Nomura, and Doosan, bridging global technology with Japan’s industrial ecosystem.
Ms. Xin Wang — SVP of Beyondsoft
Xin Wang is the SVP of Beyondsoft, a China listed company with over 25 years of business presence in Japan, in charge of Beyondsoft’s robotics overseas initiatives.
Mr. Roch N — CMO, Noitom Robotics and Founder of RKG Creative (ROCK Group Advertising)
Noitom Robotics, a 2025 spin-off from motion capture leader Noitom Technology, provides high-precision human motion data for training humanoid robots and embodied AI. It focuses on teleoperation and data factories.
Mr. Haofei Liu — Founding partner of PeakView Capital
Haofei Liu is Founding Partner of Peakview Capital Management(PCM), a venture capital firm with US $20B AUM, Co-Chairman of the FoFs Branch of China International Science and Technology Promotion Association，and Industry Supervisor at Tsinghua University Global Private Equity Research Institute. Mr.Liu has won the "Golden Bull Award" for Equity Investment Elite Award from China Securities News for many times.
Mr. Jiaxiang Yang — General Manager of Pudu Robotics Japan
Jiaxiang Yang is the General Manager of Pudu Robotics Japan. Pudu Robotics is a global leader in service robots, with deployments in over 80 countries, more than 1,000 cities, and 100,000+ robots delivered worldwide.
Ms. Kristine Mo — VP of Global Market and Ecosystem at AI² Robotics
AI² Robotics (Shenzhen) builds AGI-powered humanoid robots like AlphaBot, using embodied AI for factory tasks such as sorting and assembly.
🏢 Organizers
Venture in Japan
Venture in Japan is a newsletter that explores Japans startup and venture capital ecosystem through a cross border perspective. It blends market research, deal activity, policy shifts, and industry deep dives to show how capital, technology, and ambition flow through Japans changing economy, written for investors, founders, and anyone curious about where the next generation of Japanese growth stories will emerge.
Founders:
Jeremy Kai is a venture capitalist at Headline focused on investing in and supporting early-stage founders, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and regularly shares insights on tech, markets, and industry trends.
https://ventureinjapan.substack.com/
TechTabi — Tokyo-based Cross-Industry Tech Ecosystem
TechTabi
TechTabi is a Tokyo-based cross-border AI community built by investors and entrepreneurs with deep networks across Silicon Valley, Singapore, Japan, and China. We help connect technology capabilities, capital, and real business demand to accelerate collaboration between global builders and the Japanese market.
TechTabi is building the Japan Expansion Hub, an AI Agent engine that supports compliant, efficient, and cost-effective market entry and partnership execution in Japan. TechTabi also leverages blockchain technology for traceability and asset digitization when it adds practical value.
Founder and Incubator of TechTabi.
A serial entrepreneur and investor active in both U.S. and the China, he has co-led three successful IPO projects in U.S. and China across the Internet, RFID, and speech technology sectors, the speech tech one is iFLYTEK, now one of China’s leading AI enterprises. He has also been a pioneer in China’s 3D film industry, Internet + Sports, and AI + blockchain sectors.
Currently based in Tokyo, Japan, he focuses on AI and Web3, and also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce.
FAIR Plus × Shenzhen Robotics Association (SRA)
FAIR Plus is a global robotics industry collaboration platform initiated by the
Shenzhen Robotics Association (SRA). It connects major robotics innovation hubs across Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou, bringing together upstream key component suppliers, system integrators, and full-stack robotics companies.
The Shenzhen Robotics Association (SRA), founded in 2009 with support from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a major institutional force in China’s robotics industry. SRA plays a central role in technical standardization, supply chain coordination, industry research, white-paper publication, and international collaboration.