AP followup on Toyota-Sony deal

There is a followup article on the Toyota-Sony deal sent by the Associated Press on PHYSORG.com. According to a Sony spokesperson, "Seven Sony researchers are temporarily working in Toyota's partner robot research unit to help relay the technology to Toyota."

What usually happens in these kinds of deals in Japan is that the employees "on lease" will formally switch over to the interested company in about an year. The employees have an option to stay within the original organization, but in most cases they choose to switch over so that they can continue with the research they love. The reason that they don't switch over immediately is cultural - Japanese companies/people like a more gradual change than a drastic one.

As this AP article says, "Sony Corp.'s technology for Aibo and the childlike Qrio is still being kept in-house at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company," so we can't expect that Toyota will be coming out with another pet robot anytime soon.