Toyota Unveils Upgraded Version of Its Humanoid Robot in Tokyo

Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, Toyota Motor Corp. has introduced an upgraded version of its humanoid robot, named T-HR3. Controlled remotely by a person wearing a headset and wiring on his/her hands and arms, the human-shaped robot is capable to move faster and smoother its fingers as the wearable controlling device has made lighter and easier to use.

On its use in the coming days, Tomohisa Moridaira, who leads a Toyota research team developing the robot, said in a statement that "When we consider how robots will be used in the future, we think that there will be high demand for robots that make effective use of many joints to accomplish delicate tasks, the way humans do, and that can operate safely even when they are in contact with the world around them."

Though, it is anticipated that such a robot could one day be made use of to perform surgery in a distant place where it is not possible for a doctor to travel. It also might enable people to feel like they are participating in events if they can't attend.

In a recent demonstration of this upgraded version of humanoid in Tokyo, a person wearing a headset and wiring made the robot move in exactly the same way he was moving, waving or making dance-like movements. Looks like the mascots for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, smaller robots were also controlled in the same way.

According to Tomohisa, human-shaped robots can be controlled intuitively because all the person operating it has to do is move naturally. "The challenge still lies in securing reliable and speedy telecommunications connections so that signals are accurately relayed from the human to the robot," he said. Though, during the demonstration, the robots were connected by local networks.

Recent Developments in Humanoid Robots

In recent times, the influx of humanoid robots is on the rise as several companies showing their interests to ease the workloads of complex tasks and deliver convenient services. However, developing this kind of robots that can perform useful things in the real world, instead of just research labs, is very difficult.

Along with, building and even purchasing these robots are extremely expensive. Despite this, a large number of companies have developed or some are developing human-shaped robots. Quadruped robots such as Boston Dynamics' SpotMini and ANYbotics' ANYmal, for instance, which are more stable walkers and expected to hit the job market.

On the other hand, a China-based company UBTech last year unveiled its Walker as a bipedal robot at CES 2018. And just a year later at CES 2019, the robot demonstrated with a torso, two arms, two hands and a head to become a full-scale humanoid robot that stands nearly five feet tall and weighs 170 lb.