Donut Robotics
Tokyo robot developer incorporated 2016; its cinnamon 1 humanoid stands about 170 cm, and care-home operator Charm Care is investing 300 million yen.
Donut Robotics is a Tokyo robot developer that builds humanoid and service robots around its own AI software. The company, Donut Robotics Co., Ltd., is based on the 18th floor of Midtown Tower in Roppongi, Minato-ku. Chief executive Taisuke Ono started the venture in a garage in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2014, and it was incorporated on 4 January 2016. Paid-in capital is stated as 308.3 million yen. The leadership includes chief technology officer Ozora Ogino, a generative-AI specialist, and head of strategy Rikiya Yamamoto, formerly head of the humanoid robot division at SoftBank Robotics; a former JAXA project lead for the MMX Martian moon mission serves as a technology adviser.
Its robots carry the cinnamon name. The original cinnamon was the company's first product and has been deployed at airports and welfare facilities; the company was selected for the Haneda Airport Robot Project in 2017. cinnamon 1 is a bipedal humanoid about 170 cm tall and weighing about 70 kg, which the company describes as Japan's first mass-production bipedal humanoid. It runs a vision-language model and a gesture-control interface, and the company is developing its own vision-language-action (VLA) model. Donut states that cinnamon 1 uses an overseas OEM robot body fitted with its own AI, and that it intends to move both hardware and software to domestic production. Initial target settings are construction sites and factories. cinnamon Guide is a customer-service robot for shops that patrols to deter shoplifting, serves customers, translates and sells products; it is priced at 2.2 million yen including tax, or from 62,000 yen per month. A small humanoid, cinnamon mini, was shown at Sushi Tech 2026, and cinnamon 2 is scheduled to be announced in autumn 2026 after a demonstration at AI Expo.
In August 2026 nursing-home operator Charm Care, which runs more than 100 private care homes, agreed to invest 300 million yen in Donut Robotics. The first phase is an experimental deployment of a cinnamon humanoid in one Charm Care facility for communication with residents and patrol duties, with nurse-call response planned as a later function. No workload-reduction metrics have been disclosed.
The company exhibited at CES in 2022 and received an EY startup award in 2024. Its humanoid work has been covered by The New York Times, NHK, TV Tokyo's Gaia no Yoake and Nikkei, and the chief executive gave a keynote at AI Expo in 2026. An adviser appointed in 2025 focuses on humanoids for construction sites, in line with the construction and factory focus of cinnamon 1.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
cinnamon 1
Bipedal humanoid with onboard vision-language model and gesture control, aimed at construction sites and factories.
cinnamon Guide
Store service robot for patrols that deter shoplifting, customer service, translation and product sales.
cinnamon
The company's first robot, deployed at airports and welfare facilities and now piloted in Charm Care homes.
Contact Donut Robotics
WEBSITE
https://www.donutrobotics.comHEADQUARTERS
Japan
Company Facts
Founded
2016
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
Keywords
- Donut Robotics
- donut robotics Co.
- Ltd.
- ドーナッツロボティクス株式会社
- donutrobotics
- cinnamon
- vla model
- vision-language model
- gesture control
- eldercare humanoid
- store patrol robot
- translation robot
- nurse call
- construction site humanoid
- Manufacturer
- Software/Algorithm
- Humanoid
- Commercial Service Robot
- Control & Software
- Construction
