 |
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's top carmaker Toyota unveiled
a trumpet-playing robot -- its first humanoid machine -- in a bid
to catch up with robot technology frontrunners such as Honda and
Sony.
Toyota Motor Corp. (news - web sites) showed off its walking and
rolling virtuoso robots to the media at a Tokyo hotel as it announced
the outline of its robot development project.
The 120-centimeter (48-inch) tall robot played "When you wish upon
a star" with a trumpet as a presenter held a microphone up to the
instrument, swaying naturally to the rhythm of the famous song from
the Disney cartoon film Pinocchio.
The robot, with what appeared to be an artificial green leaf stuck
behind its left 'ear', bowed to the audience and waved its arms
to respond to applause following the brief performance. The 35 kilogram
(77 pound) as yet unnamed robot has artificial lips which can alter
their position as subtly as human lips as air is forced through
them, enabling it to play a trumpet as it presses the stops with
its hands.
"We are determined to drive forward the Toyota Partner Robot project
by putting together what we have cultivated in automotive development
and production," Toyota president Fujio Cho told the news conference.
Toyota plans to form a "robot band" to play music at the 2005 World
Exposition at the carmaker's base in Aichi, central Japan, the president
said.
Among its partners in the project are Japanese computer giant NEC
Corp. and micro-motor maker Yasukawa Electric Corp., a Toyota official
said, adding the company has no concrete plans to commercialise
the project.
The robot development race is highly competitive in Japan, the world's
leader in the technology.
In 2000, its rival Honda Motor Co. (news - web sites) Ltd. unveiled
ASIMO, the world's first two-legged walking robot, and Sony Corp
(NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites). revealed its QRIO, the world's
first jogging robot, in December.
Earlier this week QRIO appeared for a photo opportunity conducting
the Tokyo Phiharmonic Orchestra as it performed part of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony. It was not immediately clear whether QRIO would
be conducting Toyota's robot musicians in future as well.
"Honda has obtained excellent patents of two-leg walking robot technology,
but we cleared that hurdle with our own automotive technology,"
said Kusuke Shiramizu, Toyota's executive vice president.
NEC has released an interactive robot with "humanlike" expressions,
which can speak 3,000 phrases, while Hitachi Ltd. has unveiled a
birthday cake-shaped cleaning robot that manoeuvres round furniture
and sucks up dust automatically.
|
