Manufacturing Support Activities

MISUMI Group has been sponsoring “ROBO-ONE”, since FY2016 as the main sponsor, organized by the Biped Robot Association, in order to support the passion of people involved in manufacturing, such as engineering students and corporate engineers.
At the tournament, ‘MISUMI Award’ is presented to robots that captivated spectators with their prominent design and dynamic movements.

“ROBO-ONE” (organized by the Biped Robot Association) is a biped robot battle tournament that has been held since 2002. The objective of the tournament is to improve manufacturing technologies and popularizing biped robots. Wide range of people from students to professional engineers are entering the tournament.
The tournament consists of two divisions: the Fight Division and the Performance Division. The Fight Division is a martial arts division with a tournament system where contestants compete to win by defeating their opponent with punches, throws, etc. in a 3-minute round with the three knockdown rule. In the Performance Division, contestants perform for approximately 2 minutes according to a predetermined theme and are scored by the judges. Prizes are awarded in the order of the highest scores.
On September 23 and 24, 2023, the “MISUMI presents the 42nd ROBO-ONE” was held with spectators after a three-year hiatus. In addition to the visitors, over 420,000 viewers ^(*2) gathered on the live streaming service “Twitch” ^(*1) to watch the tournament.
In the Performance Division matches, the robots with advanced technologies such as AI and sensors captivated the venue. In the Fight Division, the “Ultimate Time” rule was introduced, allowing attacks on downed robots, crouch moves, crouch attacks, and side attacks during the final 30 seconds of the match. This Ultimate Time allowed robots to score a knockdown with a single big move, which led to a significant change in offense, defense, and tactics, and big moves were performed one after another.

In the “MISUMI Student Manufacturing Support” initiative, open invitation applications are accepted from a wide range of student groups that take on challenges in manufacturing at universities, technical colleges, etc. providing MISUMI products free of charge.
Support to more than 2,200 student groups have been provided since the program began in FY2008.

Since FY 2018, we have been supporting the activities of SAKURA Tempesta, a team of junior and senior high school students competing in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC), an international robotics competition. The team has been remarkably successful, winning various awards in five consecutive competitions since its first year of operation and qualifying for the world competition three times. The team also provides many junior high and high school students with opportunities to learn about engineering and promotes the appeal of manufacturing.