RT Corporation and OWL to Jointly Exhibit Forestry Prototype of Japanese-Made Quadruped Robot at FORESTRISE 2026

prtimes.jp reported on September 14, 2026, that RT Corporation and OWL would jointly exhibit a forestry prototype of a Japanese-made quadruped robot at FORESTRISE 2026. We have not verified the primary source; please refer to the original for details.

RT Corporation and OWL are proposing to combine data collection for forest surveys with robot mobility in a single operating system, targeting specific sources of work in forestry. According to the announcement, the intended tasks include transporting and moving surveying equipment, taking measurements at designated locations, and patrolling and recording data. The defined scope makes the conditions to evaluate in field trials more concrete.

The key point is not simply the unveiling of a quadruped robot, but its combination with OWL’s 3D forest surveying system. The new element evident from the primary source is a plan to integrate the robot’s mobility and surveying equipment into the same workflow. As an extension of RT Corporation’s existing direction, the effort fits the company’s business model of handling hardware, software, control and peripheral systems in an integrated manner. The exhibit is at the prototype stage, not a finished product for sale, and the focus is on identifying field requirements rather than commercialization. An earlier article by this newspaper, RT Corporation to sell ugo avatar robots to academic institutions, covered the company’s move to sell to universities and technical colleges. Unlike that effort, this joint exhibit points to use-case design and the start of field trials in a forest environment, rather than expansion of sales channels. In other words, RT Corporation’s robotics business is moving beyond offerings for education and research toward testing field applications linked to surveying equipment, though it remains at the exhibit and needs-gathering stage, not product development. From an industry perspective, the focus is on integrating “surveying, mobility and recording.” If OWL’s forest survey data can be combined with the quadruped robot’s ability to traverse rough terrain, the question will be how far the system can replace the need for people to carry equipment in forestry operations. Practical deployment will also require sufficient operating time, payload capacity, weather resistance and remote-control capability, in addition to terrain mobility. The press release also cited these as issues on which it is seeking input from people in the field. The next points to verify are the specific tasks envisioned for field trials, the prototype’s performance requirements, and the next steps for the joint development after the exhibit.

For Japan’s forestry sector, the relevant issue is integrating a robot with a surveying system to transport and move equipment through forests. RT Corporation says it will use a Japanese-made quadruped robot, making the combination of the robot itself, its control systems and surveying data processing in Japan a key focus.