A Toyota Research Institute robotics team presenter describes how Toyota aims to train adaptable robots in factories alongside team members.
Toyota is focusing on manufacturing because it matters to its business and offers complex, changing work with human interaction. The goal is for team members to teach robots tasks using their own judgment and creativity, rather than relying on specialist programming.
Many quality inspections are still performed by people. Toyota is developing a camera-based tool that team members could teach to identify anomalies and update when production lines change. Its first step is a vision system for finding rare defects on an active stamping press.
Moving heavy parts in totes is physically demanding, and the variety of totes and situations calls for robots that can adapt. Toyota wants to reduce injury risk and improve efficiency, then extend the work to moving and placing individual parts safely and accurately.
Traditional robot manipulation often depends on expert programming and fixed conditions, so changes can require reprogramming. Toyota is researching ways for more people to teach robots behaviors that adjust to changes in their surroundings.
Toyota envisions robots taking on dirty, repetitive, or dangerous tasks while people focus on creative problem-solving. The institute says reaching this goal will require continued research and collaboration with academic and industry researchers.
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