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Rikiya Yamamoto

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki



Rikiya Yamamoto
Native name山本力弥
Born
🏳️ NationalityJapanese
🏫 EducationKeio University, Faculty of Science and Engineering
💼 Occupation
Known forPepper business at SoftBank Robotics; Guinness World Record robot cheering squad; RobotMateHub

Rikiya Yamamoto (山本力弥 (やまもと りきや)) is a Japanese entrepreneur and robotics business executive. He held managerial and general-manager roles at SoftBank Robotics from 2014 to approximately 2023, overseeing commercial products related to the humanoid robot Pepper. He later founded Yamariki Edge LLC and the Business AI Advancement Organization (BAAO).

Early life and education

Yamamoto graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Management Engineering.

Career

Accenture

After graduating, Yamamoto worked at Accenture as a consultant in supply chain management, serving clients in the manufacturing and telecommunications sectors.

SoftBank Robotics (2014–c. 2023)

Yamamoto joined SoftBank Robotics (SBR) in 2014, the year the company was established and the humanoid robot Pepper was publicly announced.

Roles

His documented titles at SBR, as recorded in contemporaneous press coverage, are as follows:

Period Title (as reported)
April 2018 Manager, Solution Services Division, Business Process Department[1]
October 2018 Manager, Solution Development Division, Business Process Department[2]
March 2022 General Manager, Humanoid Business Division, Marketing Headquarters[3]
February 2023 General Manager, Humanoid Business Division[4]

Selected products and initiatives

Yamamoto was named in press coverage in connection with the following SBR products:

  • Emi — a flowchart-based AI chatbot for Pepper, announced April 2018. Yamamoto was listed as manager of the responsible division at launch.[5]
  • Robot Suite — a remote fleet-management SaaS platform for Pepper, announced October 2018. Yamamoto provided comment as the responsible division manager.[6]
  • Thermal Pepper Pack — a temperature-screening add-on developed in collaboration with Iris Ohyama, announced September 2020. Yamamoto was listed as business executive for the product.[7]
  • Pepper for Care — a nursing-care deployment programme. Yamamoto discussed the programme in a February 2023 interview, by which time it had reached over 150 facilities.[8]

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks robot cheering squad and Guinness World Record

Beginning in July 2020, SoftBank Robotics deployed a joint squad of Pepper and Spot robots as a robotic cheering squad at Fukuoka PayPay Dome, home of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team. In a September 2020 article in Nikkei Xtech, Yamamoto — then holding the title of General Manager, Humanoid Business Division, Business Development Headquarters — commented on the squad's technical configuration, noting that the Spot units used custom firmware distinct from the commercially available model.[9] The squad was subsequently expanded to 100 Pepper robots. It began with 41 robots and grew to 100 by 26 March 2021.[10][11] On 16 September 2021, the squad was certified by Guinness World Records as the world record holder for the Largest robot cheerleading squad.[12]

Public lecture (2022)

In March 2022, Yamamoto appeared alongside SBR Chief Marketing Officer Kazutaka Hasumi at Yurutto Robot Hanasou Vol. 6 (ゆるっとロボット語ろっと。Vol.6), a live-streamed public event hosted jointly by the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and SoftBank Robotics. The event focused on the development history and challenges of the Pepper project.[13]

Post-SBR activities

Yamamoto founded Yamariki Edge LLC (合同会社ヤマリキエッジ) and subsequently launched RobotMateHub, a platform focused on career matching and continuing education for the robot industry, and co-founded the Business AI Advancement Organization (BAAO / 一般社団法人ビジネスAI推進機構), a non-profit engaged in AI education and governance work. He participated in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) study group on AI governance, contributing to the development of the AI Governance Guidelines for AI Principles in Practice.[14]

Published works

  • はじめてでも失敗しない生成AI導入：現場で本当に役立つ入門書 (July 2025). ISBN B0FG67Q65T Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: Invalid ISBN. Search this book on . (ebook). Amazon Japan
  • ロボット共存時代の教科書 (September 2025). Released simultaneously in Japanese and English. Published by BAAO. ISBN B0FQ2X9TVN Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: Invalid ISBN. Search this book on . (ebook). Amazon Japan

In April 2026, Yamamoto co-presented a paper titled "The New Three Laws of Robotics: Field-Derived Ethics for Human-Robot Coexistence" at WeRobot 2026, an international robotics law and policy conference held in Berlin, Germany (23–25 April 2026). The paper was co-authored with Tomomi Ota (Shinshu University), with AJung Moon (McGill University) serving as discussant.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Pepperの質問やトラブル相談にはチャットボット「Emi」が迅速対応！" (in 日本語). ロボスタ (Robotstart). 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  2. ↑ "Pepperを遠隔からメンテナンス「ロボット スイート」発表！" (in 日本語). ロボスタ (Robotstart). 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  3. ↑ "ゆるっとロボット語ろっと。Vol.6" (in 日本語). National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan). 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  4. ↑ "介護業界に「ペッパー」がやってきた！ビジョナリーの声を聴け No.84" (in 日本語). みんなの介護. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  5. ↑ "Pepperの質問やトラブル相談にはチャットボット「Emi」が迅速対応！" (in 日本語). ロボスタ. 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  6. ↑ "Pepperを遠隔からメンテナンス「ロボット スイート」発表！" (in 日本語). ロボスタ. 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  7. ↑ "サーマルPepperパック提供開始" (in 日本語). ロボスタ. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  8. ↑ "介護業界に「ペッパー」がやってきた！ビジョナリーの声を聴け No.84" (in 日本語). みんなの介護. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  9. ↑ Soji Saito (2020-09-08). "Spot20台が一糸乱れぬダンスでデビュー、ロボット応援団の舞台裏". Nikkei Xtech (in 日本語). Nikkei Business Publications. Retrieved 2026-05-18.(subscription required)
  10. ↑ "Pepperロボット応援団 再結成のお知らせ" (Press release) (in 日本語). Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  11. ↑ "ソフトバンク総額２億円の「ペッパー応援団」ロボット100体が踊る舞台裏" (in 日本語). 日刊スポーツ. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  12. ↑ "ギネス世界記録認定のお知らせ" (Press release) (in 日本語). Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. 2021-09-16. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  13. ↑ "ゆるっとロボット語ろっと。Vol.6" (in 日本語). National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  14. ↑ "AIの社会実装に向けた研究会資料（2022年1月28日）" (PDF) (in 日本語). Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  15. ↑ "We Robot 2026 — Conference Program". We Robot 2026. 2026-04-24. Retrieved 2026-05-18.

Category:Japanese businesspeople Category:Robotics in Japan Category:Keio University alumni Category:21st-century Japanese businesspeople


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