GITAI G1

History

GITAI was founded in 2016 with the goal of disrupting the space industry. Founder and CEO Sho Nakanose recruited Yuto Nakanishi, a former researcher at the University of Tokyo's JSK Lab, where he built Kojiro, Kenshiro, and other humanoids, and was the founder and CEO of SCHAFT, a robotics startup sold to Google in 2013. Joining chief robotics officer Nakanishi were Toyotaka Kozuki (CTO) and Ryohei Ueda (VP of software), who had also worked at JSK Lab. Their plan is developing more capable and less expensive robotics systems to answer the growing demand for construction and maintenance activities in space. Investors in the company include Skyland Ventures, ANRI, 500 Startups-Japan, Spiral Ventures, DBJ Capital, and J-Power. In July 2021, GITAI won a procurement contract from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) to develop "extra-vehicular general-purpose robotic arms and hand technology that can autonomously perform multiple complex tasks on-orbit and on the lunar surface." In October 2021, GITAI completed a successful technology demonstration inside the International Space Station (ISS). In April 2022, GITAI conducted a successful demonstration of In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) activities in a simulated space environment. In December 2022, GITAI announced the start of U.S. operations with the opening of an office in Torrance, Calif.