Toyota's ‘Winglet’ goes on trial

Toyota is set to assess the safety and practicality of its personal assistance robot ‘Winglet’ for moving among pedestrians, through public  sidewalk demonstration trials. The trials will include its use by 80 local authority workers and employees of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in a part of the city that has been hosting mobility robot test programmes since 2011. The trials will continue until the end of March 2016, with the emphasis in the first year being on safety and from 2014 onwards on functionality, convenience and prospective public demand. The Winglet, first presented in 2008, is a compact, lightweight two-wheeled machine that is ridden in a standing position and maneuvered using a long, vertical adjustable T-bar handle. It is powered by a lithium-ion battery and has a range of about six miles (10 km) on a full charge with a top speed of around 3.5mph (6km/h), and battery charging takes an hour. Performance is emissions-free, making it suitable for use indoors. “Toyota has always strived to achieve sustainability in the areas of research and development, manufacturing and social responsibility, to help contribute to the health and comfort of future society. It is with this pursuit in mind that Toyota Partner Robot development is being carried out,” said Nobuyuki Negishi, chief representative of Mena Representative Office. “With the start of the Winglet trials for the first time on a public thoroughfare, Toyota hopes to contribute to the realisation of mobility-robot-using communities with zero emissions”, said Negishi For the past few years, the developed and the developing worlds have been committed and are actively working towards reducing their carbon footprints through several policy changes, climate change programmes, green initiatives, and community-wide awareness programmes, said a statement. In the Mena region, it is estimated that carbon emissions doubled in the past three decades eliciting several countermeasures by the federal and local governments, it said. Source: TradeArabia News Service