Look, I don’t mind when you show me robots playing brass instruments, or even the violin
. But I do get just a tiny bit creeped out when you demonstrate an inorganic piece of metal and plastic aka a Toyota Partner Robot running in a disconcertingly human-like manner. Robots should stay out of the running game, because we all know, deep down, that it’ll just end in tears, right?Toyota’s most recent humanoid robot prototype (one of many partner robots the automotive giant is developing) stands 130cm tall and weighs 50Kgr. Its legs have 7 degrees of freedom and it can run at an average speed of 7 km/h. In contrast, ASIMO’s maximum speed is 6km/h. The Toyota researchers had to develop new real-time methods for balance control.
