HCM-UTE Works with Yaskawa to Review More Than Two Years of the Yaskawa Mechatro Lab and Plan Its Second Phase

On the afternoon of September 23, 2026, at Meeting Room 1, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Engineering (HCM-UTE, formerly Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education) received and held a working session with a delegation from Yaskawa led by Mr. Nobuaki Jinnouchi, President & CEO of Yaskawa Asia Pacific. The two sides reviewed the results of more than two years of operating the Yaskawa Mechatro Lab and discussed plans to upgrade the lab in its second phase.

Attending the working session, HCM-UTE was represented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chau Dinh Thanh, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of the University; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Viet Cuong, Deputy Director of the Office of International Affairs; Dang Ba Ngoan, M.A., Deputy Director of the Office of Enterprise Relations; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le My Ha, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Dinh Nhon, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering; and lecturers of the Faculty’s Department of Automatic Control.

Yaskawa was represented by Mr. Nobuaki Jinnouchi, President & CEO of Yaskawa Asia Pacific; Mr. Ryutaro Kuwamura, General Director of Yaskawa Electric Vietnam; Mr. Tatsuaki Wada, Head of Motion Overseas Sales; Mr. Ryota Igosawa, Motion Overseas Sales; Ms. Nguyen Thuong An, General Manager of Yaskawa Electric Vietnam; and Mr. Truong Minh Thanh, Robot Sales Manager of Yaskawa Electric Vietnam.

At the working session, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le My Ha, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, reported on the use of the Yaskawa Mechatro Lab. Sponsored by Yaskawa Electric Corporation and inaugurated on January 24, 2024, the lab has so far served nearly 600 learners across 24 undergraduate and graduate classes. In the first semester of the 2026–2027 academic year alone, the Faculty is running eight Robotics Practice classes for 200 students.

In addition to teaching, the lab hosts graduation project defense committees, trains engineers working for Yaskawa’s customers, and supports applied research in robotics and computer vision. In 2026, the YRMC 2026 competition (Yaskawa Robotic and Motion Challenge), held on the lab’s equipment, attracted 68 students from HCM-UTE and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT) – VNU-HCM.

Building on these results, the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering proposed a second-phase upgrade of the Yaskawa Mechatro Lab with the participation of the MECHATROLINK Members Association (MMA), aiming to add four SCARA robots and four Delta robots connected via the MECHATROLINK-4 industrial communication network. The Faculty also proposed working with Yaskawa to offer scholarships, internships and company visits for students, and to continue their partnership on the YRMC competition in 2027.

For its part, Yaskawa’s experts introduced the company’s i³-Mechatronics concept and its new generation of motion control solutions, and presented the design of the SCARA robot training cells planned for the second phase.

After the working session, the delegation toured the Yaskawa Mechatro Lab at the Vietnam - Germany Center, where they talked with lecturers and students practicing on the lab’s robotics and motion control systems.

Founded in Japan in 1915, Yaskawa Electric is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of servo drives, inverters and industrial robots; the term “mechatronics” itself was coined by a Yaskawa engineer. The company is one of the 1,600 enterprises partnering with HCM-UTE, supporting the University through equipment sponsorship, training support and career connections for students.

Partnerships with companies such as Yaskawa allow HCM-UTE students to study, carry out graduation projects and compete on the very equipment that runs in modern factories. They also strengthen the University’s standing as one of the leading institutions for engineering education, whose graduates can start work at enterprises right away, in keeping with its role as a national key university in technology and engineering.

Text and photos: PP