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Toyota's humanoid to explore moon by 2020?

 Just read Moriyama-san' blog which led me to another freelance journalist Otsuka-san's blog.

 He has put up copies of slides which were presented by an executive at Toyota during some kind of task force meeting that discusses Japan's direction/strategy in space exploration.

 The title of the presentation is "Realization of Moon Exploration Using Advanced Robots by 2020." There is an image (photo?) of what that robot might look like.

 
  The specification on the right says, weight 55kg (12kg 3kWh battery included), power consumption 0.4kW, 7 hours of operation. The yellow section lists

-joints are protected from regolith

-small capacity solar battery onboard

-internal status shows on screen on chest

-arms exchangeable for different tasks

-able to jump with springs in legs

-keeps warm during night covered in metal cloak

 Multiple robots will be sent to the moon to explore, do research and build stuff.

  There's a slide explaining how to get enough energy to feed the robots, but otherwise there are no details whatsoever on whether Toyota is actually trying to develop such robots. Most of you are familiar with these robots made by Toyota. I guess we have to wait until Otsuka-san or someone writes up a story about the meeting.

 There's one slide that's kinda funny which is titled "Merging Japanese Traditional Culture with Advanced Technology." Two robots are making a Japanese rock garden on the moon. Another is doing calligraphy (the character is "moon") looking at the earth. There's dango and tea, symbols for moon-viewing  in Japan.

 You can look at more slides here. 

  

Tokyo University and Toyota Develop New Home Assistant Robot

 The Center of IRT (CIRT ) at the University of Tokyo announced on Oct. 24 a new humanoid robot that can help with household chores. The new robot called AR (for Assistant Robot) was developed under a joint project between Prof. Masayuki Inaba's team and Toyota.

(Photograph borrowed from ROBOT WATCH)

AR is about 1.6 meters tall and weighs 130kg. It has 32 degrees of freedom - 3 on the neck and head, 7 on both arms, 6 on each hands, 1 on the hip and 2 on the wheels.

The robot has 3 key functions according to ROBOT WATCH.

1. It can recognize the environment by combining the data from its laser rangefinder and stereo camera.

2. It can create motions based on a 3D geometric model.

3. It can visually determine whether its task was successful or not, and if not, it can try again.

The group showed AR picking up a tray and bringing it to the sink, pick up a T shirt from a chair and put it in the washer and then press the button as well as sweeping the floor.  It seems to have taken a lot of time for AR to accomplish these tasks but you can see the videos on ROBOT WATCH.

Besides AR, CIRT is working on 3 other robots which will all be announced by the end of this year. A personal mobility robot that can carry a single passenger, a kitchen robot and a type of robot that is "attached to" humans (whatever this means).

Blending IT and Robotics at Tokyo University

In summer of 2006, 7 major Japanese companies announced that they will be funding the Center of IRT (CIRT) at the University of Tokyo. IRT stands for the integration of Information Technology and Robot Technology. The goal of CIRT is for academia and industry to get together to come up with innovative technical solutions to support the aging Japanese society by blending IT and RT, which till recently were considered very different disciplines in Japan. IT was the place for computer scientists whereas RT was led by mechanical engineers.

So what are the 7 companies up to? Some insight was provided at a recent symposium at CIRT. You can read full coverage of this symposium in this article (in Japanese) on ROBOT WATCH, but here is a brief summary.

Panasonic is working with Prof. Tomomasa Sato in developing a logistical support system for the home using an "intelligent container" and a mobile robot that hangs from the ceiling which will bring you the container with the things you need in it. Panasonic is working on the cameras and RFID tags that will be necessary for this system.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries known for the wakamaru robot is working on how to make wakamaru recognize human motion and gestures.

Toyota and Fujitsu are working with Prof. Masayuki Inaba. Prof. Inaba's team is currently developing a robot that will be able to travel autonomously from Tokyo University to Akihabara. Another project is a robot for the kitchen, specifically one that can carry and put away the dishes after a human washes them. (Dish washers are not as common in Japan as in other parts of the world.)

Toyota is also working on a robotic service dog as well as a robotic device meant for rehab that can assist walking. 

Fujitsu - which has a service robot produt called enon - is hoping to develop techniques for the robot to communicate more effectively with humans through eye contact and audio.

The giant printing company Toppan Printing is trying to figure out whether its display technology can be utilized to assist the lives of the elderly and Olympus would like to see its MEMS technology used to make sensors for all the five senses for robots.

Too bad I don't see anything about Sega (the 7th company participating in CIRT) in this article.

Toyota announces 2 new robots

Toyota announced on Dec. 6th two new robots as well as the grand scheme on where it's heading in the development of what it calls the "Partner Robots."

One is the Mobility Robot which is meant for moving people/things from one place to another. It can move at 6km/hour and continue going for about 20km after charging the battery for an hour. It can also climb a 10 degree slope and  avoid obstacles.

The Mobility Robot is 1 meter high when boarding and 1.1 meter when moving. It weighs 150 kg.

The second is the Violin Robot which is 1.5 meter tall and weighs 56 kg. This robot can play the violin skillfully with its 17 joints on both arms and hands, according to Asahi. The goal is to make this robot capable enough to assist with household chores.

According to Nikkei, Toyota will embark on trials utilizing these robots at hospitals and recreational facilities that are operated by its group companies starting next year. Also Toyota is planning to double the number of researchers working on the Partner Robots to about 200 within 3 years. The company's robotics researchers are currently scattered in 3 locations but will be consolidated into a new R&D center in Toyoda City that will open by spring of 2009.

What is most interesting to me is the fact that Toyota seems to be very open about the kinds of robots it is working on and when it plans to deliver them. This is a very different philosophy compared to Honda which is super secretive about where it is heading with the ASIMO.

Toyota's guide robot ROBINA makes its debut

Toyota held a press conference in Japan showing off its new service robot  TPR-ROBINA. The robot will be used as a guide at the company's exhibition facility.

According to well-known and credible journalist Kazumichi Moriyama who attended the press event, the name "ROBINA" comes from  "ROBot as INtelligent Assistant." The robot's face is supposed to portray "kindness" and "calmness" - although by reading the comments on this Engadget post, Toyota doesn't seem to have succeeded in doing this.  Besides giving a tour of Toyota's facility, ROBINA can sign an autograph too.

Moriyama has written this article on Robot Watch - a popular online publication. But what's more interesting is what he's written on his personal blog which is being read by thousands of people daily.

He says that the voice recognition system on ROBINA was "terrible" and that the crowd was not an excuse. It was difficult to tell what ROBINA was trying to do or where ROBINA was heading - lack of expressiveness - which is a detriment for a "guide."

So maybe Toyota does need help from Sony after all..........