Although the newest robot to come from Boston Dynamics’ called Atlas is extremely impressive with its ability to balance and do backflips, Toyota’s new, third generation humanoid robot, the T-HR3, is the type of humanoid robot you may prefer to have helping you around the house. Another feature that may set people's minds at ease is the fact that it is controlled by a user’s movements, which means unless your nextdoor neighbor is secretly a terminator sent from the future, you'll probably be just fine hanging out with a T-HR3.
News of the T-HR3, which was picked up by The Verge, comes from the auto giant’s home country of Japan. In a press release, the company said that the T-HR3 demonstrates Toyota’s latest robotics platform, and will be used to “explore new technologies for safely managing physical interactions between robots and their surroundings, as well as a new remote maneuvering system that mirrors user movements to the robot.”
The remote maneuvering system is extremely interesting to me and if ever given the opportunity, I would love to take a shot at playing puppetmaster to this new friendly looking robot!
That's not to say that the new Boston Dynamics Atlas isn't a cool addition to modern robotics but I've always liked the rounded look of Toyota's recent line of humanoid robots.
In terms of specs, you’re looking at a 165-pound five-foot-tall “Toyota Robot Partner” that has ten fingers, two feet and a pair of eyes that are a lot more WALL-E than they are skinless Terminator.
Ten fingers, two feet and a pair of eyes sounds pretty humanoid to me and is certain to be an easier adjustment to an eyeless, fingerless robo droid toting a flamethrower...
T-HR3 is outfitted with a series of Torque Servo Modules (i.e. servomotors or “robot muscles”) that are controlled from the Master Maneuvering System, which has a headset that allows you to see out of T-HR3’s eye cameras. The whole setup looks a bit like Snuffles’ advanced mechanical suit from Rick and Morty — at least from the waist up. Although one of the previous generations of the Toyota humanoid robot, the i-Foot, really looks like something that could frighten Summer in the middle of the night.
Although it may not look like it right now we surely living in an age of technological marvel and as the speed of these robotic developments pick up we are certain to see exponential improvements being made to robot models. We most certainly have an opportunity to live in a world in which humans and robotic humanoids work together and in some situations we may find ourselves at odds with our new robot neighbors and co-workers..
Only time will tell what the future truly holds but I'm starting to get a better picture writing about it everyday as Techblogger!
What do you guys think of this new Toyota T-HR3 robot? Do you see there being room for both the T-HR3 and Atlas models to exist side by side as they both have extremely different purposes and abilities?
Please leave your thoughts and feedback below!
Thanks for reading.
Source:
Toyota’s New Humanoid Robot Looks Like a Friendly Atlas - Nerdist