Toyota develops tour guide robot

Toyota has announced that it has developed a tour guide robot that will escort visitors around the various displays of Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City, Japan from later this month.

The newly developed tour guide robot is equipped with autonomous movement capabilities for avoiding obstacles and with jointed fingers, allowing it to sign autographs. The robot is also able to interact with visitors through a combination of verbal communication and gestures.

Toyota is applying its mobility and manufacturing technologies, as well as its approach to making things, to developing Toyota Partner Robots that will support people in their daily lives and to help create a healthy and comfortable society in the future. Toyota Partner Robots performed at the Toyota Group Pavilion during the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi. Since then, Toyota has been committed to the continuous development of these robots, focusing on the four areas in which they can be of the most use to humans: assistance with domestic duties, assistance with nursing and medical care, assistance with manufacturing and assistance with short-distance personal transport.

Toyota plans to incorporate what it learns from using the tour guide robot at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall to further improve and develop its robots.

The Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall features exhibits and audio-visual presentations that illustrate Toyota’s vision of enriching society through car manufacturing, as well as its most advanced car manufacturing technologies. The venue also holds various seasonal events and exhibitions.