Human-shaped robot named Kirobo as high as 33 cm was introduced in the briefing in Tokyo. The robot was developed by Dentsu Inc., University of Tokyo, Robo Garage Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.
Kirobo will glide into space toward the International Space Station in August, riding on Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft. This robot will then wait for the Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata will glide November to December and take part in the conversation first human-robot in space. "We want people to dream of a society in which we live with the robots," said Fuminori Kataoka, General Manager of Toyota's product planning division. Kirobo scheduled to return to Earth in December 2014.
Voice-recognition technology developed by Toyota allows Kirobo to remember the human voices and respond to them with the Japanese. In the future, the technology developed in Kirobo also be used in robots made another Toyota (partner robots) that function to serve the people who have difficulty walking.
Toyota developed a partner robot, especially in Japan which has the fastest growing elderly population in the world. One in four people in the country more than 65 years old in 2014.
Japanese society is quite comfortable with the idea of living together and communicate with the robot because it is popular in manga scene, "said University of Tokyo Associate Professor Tomotaka Takahashi. "About 15 years into the future, we will see a society where every person living with personal robots."
Toyota manufactures robots since the 1970s. Initially for efficiency and improve the quality of the car, especially the work of welding and painting.
