Toyota to deploy AI-powered robots at factories worldwide
Automotive News reports Toyota Group will invest $6.4 billion per year beginning in 2028 “to update factories for the digital age” and deploy 400,000 robots worldwide.
The article states that the robots will be AI-powered humanoid workers that will learn the skills of veteran workers. Over a third of the robots will reportedly be introduced at Toyota Motor Corp.
“Robots can learn human movements through cameras and sensors, enabling the transfer of master craftsmen’s skills to robots without the need to write complex software programs,” said Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima, according to Automotive News. “In the future, it will be possible not only for humans to teach robots but also for robots that have learned master craftsmen’s skills to teach humans.”
Toyota leaders have said the company isn’t planning on replacing human workers with machines, according to Automotive News. Instead, the robots will “augment, not displace, Toyota’s human workforce.”
Automotive News says Nakajima pointed to an Embodied Learning robot for Enhanced Yield (ELEY) as an example of what Toyota plans to introduce — two-armed, elbow-high droids with crab-like pincers, a blue computer screen with sensors as their faces, and a rounded base resembling a chess piece or vacuum cleaner.
“Human workers train ELEY by wearing an exoskeleton that beams the movements to the robot in a process called teleoperation,” the article states. “Toyota said it will leverage its expertise in building robust, reliable vehicles to manufacture robots that can withstand harsh work environments, high temperatures and cold climates.”
Automotive News notes that Toyota joins Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and a multitude of Chinese automakers “pursuing the goal of having digital workers on factory floors.”
“Tesla ended production of its Model S sedan and Model X crossover this year to use California factory space to build its Optimus robot,” the article states. “Renault targets 350 humanoids by 2027, and Mercedes aims for assembly line use by 2030. Others in the mix include Mitsubishi and China’s Xpeng.”
In July, BMW Group said that after a successful deployment with the humanoid robot Figure 02 at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina, the company’s further-developed successor, Figure 03, would begin at the plant, working on complex sequencing applications in logistics.
Images
Featured image: The Embodied Learning robot for Enhanced Yield (ELEY) is pictured.
Photo and video provided by Toyota