Earlier this year, Toyota surpassed General Motors in car and truck sales for the first time ever. I begin this posting with this bit of common knowledge because it is important to understand that Toyota is—and will remain—primarily an automotive company. Two announcements by the company yesterday, however, suggest the Japanese giant also aims to become a dominant player in the emerging field of robotics.
The first news item reported that Toyota and Sony had agreed to team up to develop an innovative, intelligent, single-seat vehicle, dubbed the i-swing. Toyota calls it a “next-generation” transporter, but it is easier to picture this motorized device as a stylish armchair on wheels (and steroids).
It is hard to predict whether senior citizens will flock to the device, but Sony is transferring a team of researchers who were responsible for developing its highly popular (but ultimately money losing) Aibo dog robot to work on the project.
Yesterday’s other announcement pertained to the public unveiling of TPR-Robina, a new type of personal robot. At the present time, the robot will only be assigned to escort visitors around Toyota’s exhibition hall, but TPR-Robina bears watching because it has four separate and important functions: autonomous motion; jointed fingers; verbal communication skills and image recognition.
Each of these skills is fairly limited now, but, given the accelerating pace of technological progress, it is not difficult to imagine in the not-too-distant future the robot will eventually be able to navigate tight spaces, manipulate small and fragile objects; recognize individual people; and communicate with them in more meaningful ways.
Toyota has publicly indicated that it is targeting roots for four fields: housekeeping services; nursing-care and medical services; manufacturing operations; and personal vehicles for short-distance rides. And while I don’t expect the sales of robots to come anywhere near matching its automotive sales, I do believe its robotics division is poised for healthy growth in the years ahead.
I would specifically encourage executives in the health services industry to monitor the company’s success in marketing and selling its robots to senior citizens in Japan. The country’s population is aging rapidly and if Toyota’s robots can help people maintain an independent lifestyle for a longer period of time, it could be on to something very big. It could also help ease the strain on employees in nursing homes and hospitals who must service this growing demographic.
Jack Uldrich is a writer, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequenter speaker on future trends, innovation, change management and executive leadership.
