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Toyota Announces Partner
Robots
by Jenny McLane
An overview of the project to develop partner robots designed to function as
personal assistants for humans is being carried out by Toyota for its corporate
activities based on the spirit of “contributing to society through making things
and making automobiles.”
Toyota is promoting the development of human-assisting partner robots using the
collective experience cultivated by the Toyota Group in automotive development
and production engineering.
In response to Japan's rapidly aging population and dwindling birth rates Toyota
starts to develop robots in a need to secure a stable labor force for the future
in order for its people to be able to enjoy comfortable standards of living.
This is also true around the globe as people crave for better, more diversified
lifestyles.
Possessing human characteristics, Toyota's partner robots are agile, warm and
kind and also intelligent enough to skillfully operate a variety of devices in
the areas of personal assistance care for the elderly, manufacturing, and
mobility.
Since each area requires a special set of skills, Toyota is focusing on the
development of three different types of partner robots (walking, rolling, and
mountable), each with its own areas of expertise.
Advanced technology used in the “Toyota Partner Robot” enable its robots to play
musical instruments. Toyota developed artificial lips that move with the same
finesse as human lips, which, together with robots’ hands, enables the robots to
play trumpets like humans do.
Toyota came up with the new stabilizing technologies for robots as it has
Mobility control technology through the expanded development of the driving
control technologies for automobiles. A small, lightweight and low-cost high
precision sensors, developed based upon automotive sensor technology, is used as
an attitude sensor that detects a tilt of a robot.
Wire-operation system is also being developed. The actuators as power sources
are located on its torso, and wires are used to move the arms and legs. The
weight of the arms and legs can be reduced, adding limberness and speed to the
motion.
Toyota’s announcement of the development of partner robots is followed by an
exhibition of the results as part of the entertainment lineup for the Toyota
Group Pavilion at the Expo 2005, Aichi, Japan.
Toyota plans to continue focusing the energy of the Toyota Group to further
utilize their wealth of technical experience in automotive development and
production to expand the usefulness of these robots while broadening their
functions and areas of application.
About the Author:
At Partstrain, we stock
thousands of Toyota Parts right at your fingertips. Just browse on
http://www.partstrain.com/ShopByVehicle/TOYOTA and you can now search for your
own Toyota car parts, order them, and have it delivered directly to your door at
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parts comes up short, just call one of our sales professionals to help assist
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the largest state of the art catalog to use for looking up Toyota auto parts.
Jenny McLane is a 36 year old native of Iowa and has a knack for research on
cars and anything and everything about it. She works full time as a Market
Analyst for one of the leading car parts suppliers in the country today. |
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