Toyota and Preferred Network collaboration will be a breakthrough in the service robots field (Image via: Digital Trends)

Toyota to Cooperate with Preferred Networks Inc For Service Robots

Nobuhiko Koga, Chief Officer of Toyota's Frontier Research Center, commented about the collaboration on August 7. He started by looking back that Toyota has been participating in the development of partner robots. Those robots support people with disabilities and the elderly since 2004. The development is based on the concept in which robots can coexist with humans and assist them in daily lives. Then in 2012, Toyota developed the Human Support Robot (HSR) to enhance independent living.

Currently, HSR has been used in research and development for 49 organizations in 13 countries, including Japan. The joint research and development with Preferred Network is expected to build robots that can fulfill the market needs. The two companies want the robots to be able to learn in typical living environments and executing a variety of tasks. This collaboration will create world-class intelligence technologies that can strengthen the field of service robots.

On the other hand, Toru Nishikawa, President & CEO of Preferred Network, also made the same statement. Preferred Network itself has been developing the intelligent hardware for automobiles and industrial robots. The company already presented a deep-learning-based robot which has capability of cleaning a room independently at CEATEC Japan 2018. In the cooperation, Preferred Network will apply the deep-learning technologies to build the advance version of HSR that can pick up and put down undefined objects, draw up its own operation plans, and respond to human instructions. Along with Toyota, Preferred Network aims to accelerate robots’ functions for a better work in human living environments. For the process, Toyota will provide a dozen units of its HSR to Preferred Networks. Their collaboration is going to happen over the next three years. This is including a sharing of intellectual property.

Source: https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/29064712.html