BRUSSELS -- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to make a full-scale entry into the robotics business, according to officials.

As part of its efforts to automate its factories, Toyota has developed robots that work in collaboration with humans and unveiled them to The Yomiuri Shimbun and other media outlets at its European research and development center. It aims to roll out these robots gradually as it and its major business partners upgrade equipment at their production sites, with the goal of eventually selling them to external customers.

The robots are controlled by physical AI systems, and are designed to learn and mimic human movements, with the aim of them acquiring skills equivalent to their human counterparts. To facilitate learning, the arms are designed with a structure similar to human joints, with shoulder blades added to improve flexibility.

While the introduction of robots can often lead to workforce reductions, Toyota maintains that robots are, above all, tools designed to assist people and aims to sell them to companies that share this view, the officials said.

Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima said that Toyota intends to steadily expand factory automation as a business and contribute to the world through manufacturing, at a technical briefing held in September by Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA, the company's European subsidiary.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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