RSS Feeds
|
BR DE ES FR IT JP NL UK US
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
The new "Home Assistant Robot" is the product of joint research between Toyota and the University of Tokyo. And while it's not as fancy as Asimo, the 5-foot, 130kg home robot is probably a whole lot more practical—it cleans instead of dancing and packs two wheels instead of tricky legs.
Noise-cancelling tech, which has been available in headphones for years, is coming to cars. The new Toyota Crown Hybrid will come with three microphones that will work with three always-on active phase speakers that will make the interior of the car much quieter. By cancelling out road and engine noise, the system will be able to take the ambient cabin noise down from 50-150Hz to a whisper-quiet 8dB. Sounds pretty great to me. [Treehugger]
Apparently, according to Toyota, in the next few years a new feature for the Prius will be that it can fold itself up into a suitcase. That's not all! It'll be able to be unfolded into a car while you're jumping from space. You can then get into your space Prius and land on one of those sky-based tube highways that I guess they're constructing somewhere. Sounds awesome! Wait, what?
Yesterday we saw in action the Large and Medium models of the Segway-killer Toyota Winglet. Here you have the Type S, which stands for small but, according to Toyota, could also mean Sports. Looking at the video, it makes sense: basically, this thing seems to allow for faster, more aggressive driving, achieving a behaviour similar to inline skates. Someone should boost their engines speed as soon as they arrive. [Toyota]
Toyota's Segway-competing Winglet may look agile and nimble in photos, but how does it perform in motion? Quite well, actually. A lady with capri pants can ride the M version around with relative ease, using her weight to direct the Winglet around in a figure 8 so other Japanese men can take photos of her from every angle. The only thing left to see is the price. Will this be affordable enough so we can all don our short pants and ride outside in style? [Japan Times]
The Winglet is Toyota's Segway killer--as if there was anything left to kill--a personal transport assistant that comes in three different models, all destined to fail in the US to the lack of sidewalk vehicle regulations and cheeseburger/cup holders. The three models--Type S, M, and L--look great, especially the small one, with no handlebar at all.
In a Nikkei article set to publish Monday, it was revealed that Toyota has green lit plans to offer solar panels on its popular Prius hybrid vehicle. The solar panel option will be available on the high-end Prius model when it receives a redesign in 2009. Strangely, the Japanese business newspaper also reports that the power generated by the solar panels will be used for the air conditioning system. The solar panels are being manufactured by Kyocera Corp. Previously, Gizmodo has covered some DIY solar panel options for the Prius, but the news today confirms that an official offering is now forthcoming from Toyota. It's a start, right? [Reuters]
We've already seen a version of this: Autoliv's hood airbag system, but Toyota Gosei (an offshoot of, no prizes for etc etc, Toyota) has gone one better. As well as protecting the pedestrian from being squished like a bug on a windscreen, it has airbags down the side of the car, both front and back, protecting passengers from injury in the event of a nasty shunt from every which way in the car.
Here's a simple, compelling argument we read in Wired that shows a used car may be a more ecologically sound choice than a new Prius:
Honda's ASIMO may have picked up the baton to conduct an entire orchestra, but Toyota has just outperformed the little guy with its suite of robo-musicians. Dubbed Chuck, Harry, Dave and Ritchie (honestly!) the part-wheeled, part-bipedal quartet recently performed a concert where they actually played a trumpet, tuba, drums, violin and trombone. Their song repertoire included a Glenn Miller piece and a popular Japanese tune— and that makes waving a baton around seem pretty low-tech. Wait 'til you see the video of Ritchie hammering away on his custom drum kit— he'll have you giggling with robot-appreciation glee.
Yesterday we saw 