Admin l Monday, September 25, 2017
TOYOTA CITY, Japan―Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) have commenced joint research with the aim of promoting the use of partner robots that can help and coexist harmoniously with humans.
The research according to TMC aims to provide support for various situations that occur in daily life utilizing AI technology from the NTT Group and the Human Support Robot (HSR), one of the partner robots currently being developed by Toyota.
“Previously, robot development focused primarily on industrial robots in factories and other workplaces fulfilling tasks in place of humans. However, in recent years, as observed in products like robot vacuum cleaners, increased attention has been given to partner robots. Partner robots operate inside homes and can help with such tasks as housework, nursing and child raising, or acting as a partner with which to communicate”, Toyota said.
NTT is engaging in the research and development of corevo®, which incorporates media processing technologies with world-leading levels of accuracy (the company’s voice recognition technologies being a prime example) and interaction technologies such as R-env® so that robots and other personified agents operating on corevo® are able to understand human words and expressions, as well as understand advanced discussions that incorporate hand and body gestures. Through its collaboration with various manufacturers, NTT has promoted initiatives that equip robots with a variety of different characteristics to become more integrated into human life.
Toyota, meanwhile, has advanced development of HSRs that are compact and lightweight, easy to operate, and that provide safety and peace of mind.
The company intends for HSRs to operate inside the home, live together with people, and support even more bountiful lifestyles in the future. In 2015, Toyota established the HSR Developers’ Community in collaboration with multiple universities and research institutes. The goal of the community is to accelerate technological development in order to improve the functionality of HSRs.
Initially, service prototypes will be exhibited at the NTT booth at CEATEC JAPAN 2017, which is scheduled to be held at Makuhari Messe from October 3-6, 2017 . Afterwards, demonstration tests will be carried out in the field, such as at robotic events and showrooms, with the purpose of allowing NTT and Toyota to gauge the possibilities of robotic services centered on HSRs.
