Fujitsu and Carnegie Mellon University launch joint center for Physical AI

KAWASAKI, Japan and PITTSBURGH, April 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu Limited and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) today announced the launch of the Fujitsu-Carnegie Mellon Physical AI Research Center. At the Center, Fujitsu and CMU will jointly advance research and development of core technologies to enhance the capabilities and scalability of physical AI, with the aim of serving as a global research hub that drives the social implementation of these technologies.

Research focus and objectives

Physical AI is expected to contribute to addressing key societal challenges—such as improving productivity, mitigating labor shortages, and ensuring safety—by enabling AI systems to operate in the real world and interact with people and their environments, thereby driving the automation and optimization of operations across sectors including manufacturing, logistics, construction, infrastructure, and healthcare.

However, realizing this vision requires the integration of expertise and technologies across multiple domains, including robotics, AI, simulation, human–robot interaction, and ethics and social acceptance. This makes not only advancements in individual fields essential, but also interdisciplinary collaboration and efforts that bridge academic research with real-world deployment.

Fujitsu and CMU established the Fujitsu-Carnegie Mellon Physical AI Research Center to address these challenges through an integrated research approach that brings together interdisciplinary expertise and connects academia and industry .

A multidisciplinary collaboration

At the Center, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of physical AI, faculty members from CMU across a wide range of disciplines—including robotics, machine learning, language technologies, human–computer interaction, electrical and computer engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and philosophy—participate in the joint research. Researchers will work alongside Fujitsu scientists, engineers, and technicians to develop physical AI systems designed to tackle real-world challenges. This close collaboration with industry informs and inspires new research directions to meet critical demand.

Participating researchers include:

• Yonatan Bisk, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies
• Fernando De La Torre, Research Professor, Robotics
• Tim Dettmers, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning
• Laszlo Jeni, Assistant Research Professor, Robotics
• Kris Kitani, Associate Research Professor, Robotics
• David Lindlbauer, Assistant Professor, Human-Computer Interaction
• Yorie Nakahira, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Graham Neubig, Associate Professor, Language Technologies
• Jean Oh, Associate Research Professor, Robotics
• Sean Qian, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Sebastian Scherer, Associate Research Professor, Robotics
• Peter Spirtes, Department Head and Professor, Philosophy
• Kun Zhang, Professor, Philosophy

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source: Fujitsu Limited