New robots, new capabilities. Tracking what's coming for the workforce.
Robotics Toyota named a number on September 18: 400,000 in-house robots across 60 plants worldwide, starting in 2028, at an estimated ¥1 trillion a year. The stated goal isn't fewer workers. It's saving skills held by 18,000 aging takumi that Toyota has no other way to record.
Robotics Walden Robotics left stealth on Wednesday with $300M and wheeled robots already in production at Toyota. The legs are missing on purpose.
Robotics Geekplus says 436 of its autonomous mobile robots now run in-plant logistics across multiple Toyota factories in Japan, with labor shortages and trucking rules driving the rollout.
Robotics At halftime of the April 12 Alvark Tokyo game, Toyota's CUE7 — 7'2", 163 lb, no teleoperation, no motion-capture — stood up, dribbled, and made a free throw. The control stack, quietly disclosed on April 23, is reinforcement learning merged with MPC. That's what every humanoid factory robot needs.