Daigorou Yasukawa has set up the office in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu city with the cooperation of his elder brothers. Yaskawa Electric was established there in April 1915.

The company’s first order product “three-phase induction motor 20HP” was delivered in 1917. It  received orders of induction motors for skewer hoisting machines from coal mining companies.

Synchronous motor 4,000HP 250rpm for rolling machines was delivered to a Japanese iron manufacture Yahata steel plants in 1935

Yaskawa actively attempted to export in 1940s, and the contract for the first export after the Second World War was signed in 1948.

In 1950, a revolutionary and user-friendly component VS motor which had variable speed and remote control was developed. The first product was embedded on a double-turn printing press.

Minertia motor was invented in 1958 boosting the ability to quickly respond to control signals which inproved the reply speed a hundred times of a conventional model. It presented the prototypic figure of servo motor Yaskawa’s key component.

Yaskawa’s motion control technology advanced significantly in the 1960’s, and developed many products as applied model of small motors.

Yaskawa’s legendary robot MOTOMAN-L10, Japan's first fully electric industrial robot, becoming the basis of the current industrial robot completed in 1977.

Mechatronics was first coined when the Ohio Service Center was first opened where many Yaskawa robots and Memocon PLCs had been employed.

The small volume AC servo drive Σ(Sigma) series began selling in 1992 in pursuit of thorough miniaturization and high performance. It became the cornerstone of the current motion control business.

Yaskawa has networked MECHATROLINK suitable for motion control and founded MECHATROLINK Members Club (MMC) in 2003.

The motor drive system QMET (Qualified Magnetic Electronic Transmission) for HEV which consists of motor and power control unit was developed in 2009 by utilizing the motor drive technology.

The dual arm SDA series as next generation robot was developed in order to automate an assembly area in 2012. Yaskawa advanced into the field of robotics human assistance. YASKAWA (China) Robotics Co., Ltd (YCR) was established in Changzhou city.

Yaskawa acquired Solectria Renewables through its US subsidiary, Yaskawa America Inc.  Solectria Renewables will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. 

It has commemorated the 100th anniversary in 2015, with the new head office building a robot village, together with a new corporate logo for the next century.

Yaskawa has been evolving “Mechatronics” aiming at a new industrial automation revolution, and in 2017 it proposed a solution concept “i3-Mechatronics” which added elements of digital data management.

Yaskawa solution factory which becomes a servo’s mother factory as a place to demonstrate i3-Mechatronics solution has been fully operational.

YASKAWA Europe Robotics d.o.o. (Slovenia) begins production of industrial robots.

Yaskawa's Drives Value Add plant moves to Franklin and Yaskawa announces the consolidation of Wisconsin and Illinois facilities to a new Campus in Franklin, WI over the next 8-10 years.