Toyota's Partner Robot Visits Texas

Posted 26 Sep 2007 at 21:49 UTC by steve

In an interesting cultural exchange, Toyota is sending their prototype Partner Robot to Edinburg, Texas, where it will demonstrate it's capabilities at the HESTEC 2007 (Hispanic Engineering, Science & Technology) at the University of Texas-Pan America (UTPA). The robot will be at HESTEC September 27 through 29. You may remember the Partner Robot for it's unique trumpet-playing skills, which we originally covered by back in 2004. A search of YouTube will reveal lots of video of Toyota's Partner Robot in action. For more details, read on for the full text of the press release Toyota sent us.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Victor Vanov 859.801.2592

Face of the Future Visits Texas

Life-like Toyota Partner Robot to Appear at

Hispanic Engineering, Science & Technology (HESTEC) Week

EDINBURG, Texas (September 25, 2007) – Students, educators and members of the South Texas community will have the opportunity to witness how robots will make life easier in the future when Toyota’s Partner Robot makes an appearance at the seventh annual HESTEC Week at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) from September 27 – 29.

Toyota’s Partner Robot was created to one day assist people with a wide variety of activities including: elderly care; general assistance; and automotive manufacturing to assist assembly-line team members.

To demonstrate its agility and manners, the Partner Robot was designed and programmed by Toyota engineers to play a musical instrument. By using its dexterous fingers and artificial lips, the Partner Robot is able to play the trumpet and walk.

The Toyota Partner Robot was designed and created by a group of engineers and now calls Erlanger, Kentucky home where the company’s North American manufacturing and engineering headquarters is located. Toyota recently hired a group of U.S. engineers to develop and further improve the robot’s capabilities which will improve the quality of life for many in the future.

HESTEC Week, founded and launched by UTPA and Texas Congressman Ruben Hinojosa is an initiative designed to generate interest by students, educators and the community in science, technology, engineering and math fields and careers. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the event which runs from September 24 – 29.

The Partner Robot’s performances will be open to the public on:

Friday, September 28
HESTEC Student Career Expo
10:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 29
HESTEC Community Day
4:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m
6:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m.

All times listed are Central Time.

A video of the Partner Robot’s performance can be viewed at http://www.toyotageorgetown.com/detailnews.asp?PRID=221

Hi-res photos of the Partner Robot are now available online at pressroom.toyota.com. About Toyota Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and will operate 15 manufacturing plants in North America by 2010. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.8 million vehicles in 2006. Toyota directly employs over 41,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18.6 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $28.5 billion.

Toyota currently produces 11 vehicles in North America, including the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra and the Lexus RX 350. By 2010, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build approximately 2.2 million cars and trucks, 1.45 million engines and 600,000 automatic transmissions. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com.

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