The Robotics Innovation Center's significance is not the hardware — humanoid lab robots have been demonstrated before. What the Institute of Science Tokyo has done is convert an automation proof-of-concept into a durable institutional commitment. The facility runs continuously with no human staff present, and the university's expansion roadmap treats that condition as the permanent forward state, not a transitional phase. The university's plans to significantly increase automation over time are structured around integrating AI-directed hypothesis generation with robotic execution — a combination that moves the human role from performing…