A labour shortage in Japan driven by an ageing population and low birth rates is causing demand for robots that deliver sushi to tables to skyrocket. They are becoming increasingly used for healthcare, retail, security, cleaning and other applications in the country too.
A report from the Japanese research firm Fuji Keizai cited by Bloomberg this week has estimated that the service robot market in the nation will triple in value by the end of the decade. It will be worth around US$2.7 billion by that time.
To date, Skylark has put over 3,000 robots with digital cat faces throughout its 2,000 restaurants in the country. The corporation is one of the nation’s largest food providers.
As of August last year, 53 per cent of Japanese companies reported having a shortage of full-time workers, according to a survey completed by Japan’s labour ministry. The country could potentially face a labour deficit of 11 million by 2040.
Senior citizens make up nearly 30 per cent of the population, a percentage that is expected to continue growing for years and propel robot demand. Japan has one of the world’s lowest birthrates and has historically been reluctant to embrace immigration.
Japan’s aging population and labor shortage are being addressed with service robots. Now, imagine their capabilities with LLMs, FSD-like tech, a voice interface, and robotic arms and legs. pic.twitter.com/XDsP82AkAv
— David Hajek (@hajekd) March 9, 2025
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Fuji Keizai is not the only one to share this sentiment
Global Market Insights, an Indian analytics firm, published a report last month estimating that Japan’s service robotics market would have a hefty compound annual expansion rate of 25.1 per cent for the next nine years.
“The service robots industry in Japan has blossomed because of the country’s ageing population,” the firm said in the report.
Global Market Insights has pointed out that Japan has been completing sophisticated research and development with robots. Also, their increasing adoption in national healthcare and old-age homes.
The research firm DataM Intelligence also recently predicted that Japan’s AI-integrated culinary robots market in particular would expand at an 8.7 per cent compound annual growth rate until 2031.
Japan has been a pioneering leader in robotics for several years.
One of the country’s most interesting and notable undertakings in this field was the implementation of the DAWN Avatar Robot Cafe initiative.
This experimental venture at a Tokyo coffee house, which officially opened in 2021, has enabled Japanese citizens with severe disabilities to remotely operate service robots from their respective homes and hospitals.
Photo credit: DAWN Avatar Robot Cafe
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