Just like Honda, Toyota Motor Corporation too is into robotics. The Japanese giant has partnered with Preferred Networks for joint research and development on Toyota’s Human Support Robot (HSR) robotics platform. Both companies aim to develop service robots.
In recent years, the use of robots has expanded from industrial use to medical care and logistics. However, many technological issues remain in the field of service robots, which are required to integrate into individuals’ lives and make decisions and respond appropriately to various situations, the company said.
By combining their respective technologies and know-how, Toyota and PFN intend to develop service robots capable of learning in typical living environments and executing a variety of tasks. Toyota will first loan several dozen HSRs to PFN; over the following 3 years, the two companies will then collaborate in R&D. Toyota and PFN will share their respective development information and technologies, including existing intellectual property. The two companies will also be free to use the results of their joint research as they see fit.
Since around 2004, Toyota has engaged in the development of partner robots that support both people with disabilities and the elderly, based on the concept of ‘coexisting with humans and assisting them in their daily lives.’ In 2012, we developed the HSR, which has a basic robotics platform for supporting independent living. Up to now, HSR has been used in research and development at 49 organizations in 13 countries including Japan, and has been highly praised as a robotics platform – Nobuhiko Koga, Chief Officer of Toyota’s Frontier Research Center
Since our establishment in 2014, at PFN we have used deep-learning to develop intelligent hardware for automobiles and industrial robots. At CEATEC Japan 2018, we demonstrated a robot capable of cleaning a room in a fully automated manner; we applied deep-learning technologies to create an HSR that could pick up and put down undefined objects, draw up its own operation plans, and respond to human instructions. HSR is an outstanding robotic platform. By engaging in joint research and development with Toyota, who created the HSR, we hope to accelerate the development of the functions necessary for robots to work in human living environments. Our goal is to realize the practical implementation of service robots for the first time in the world – Toru Nishikawa, President & CEO of PFN
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