If people visit Kawada Industries Inc.'s booth at the Japan Robot Week exhibition, the firm will serve them a cup of coffee — not from a human barista, but from a robot.

Called Nextage, the company describes it as a "next-generation industrial robot." It debuted in 2011 and has already seen action at manufacturing firms, assembling electronic components.

Industrial robots including Nextage have already proven their usefulness at manufacturing plants. But Kawada Industries, a Tokyo-based robot maker, wants to show they can be useful outside as well, a company spokeswoman said at the event, which kicked off Wednesday at Tokyo Big Sight.