The robot’s name Kirobo comes from a combination of ‘kibo’, or ‘hope’, and ‘robot’, with its creators saying that its value is emotional and has the intelligence of a child. The new venture comes as Japan’s largest carmaker Toyota is investing in artificial intelligence and poaching global robotics experts to battle incursions into the automotive industry by Google, Apple and other technology rivals. Toyota say it is designed to provide company for the increasing number of people in Japan living alone.
The 10-centimetre talking robot claims to have the intelligence of a five-year-old and can learn phrases and recognize facial expressions with a built-in camera and sensors.
The General Manager in charge of the project, says its value is emotional, going from home to car to the outdoors as a faithful companion, although the owner must do all the walking and
‘Toyota has been making cars that have a lot of valuable uses. But this time we’re just pushing emotional value,’ he said.