Toyota uses 5G to untether T-HR3 robot

Your Avatar dreams are coming closer to reality

Sure, it might not have the fluidity, precision or organic stuff that make up Avatar's...avatars, but Toyota Motor Corporation's T-HR3 robot does now have one similarity: remote control.

Rather than leaping through the forests of Pandora, the robot is intended to be used in homes and healthcare settings - helping people with limited mobility to experience the world outside.

Humans working with the T-HR3 strap themselves into a command console, and operate the robot using wearable arm, hand and foot controls. A head-mounted display relays what the bot is seeing and force feedback lets the operator gain a sense of the environment around the bot, by feeling the external forces being exerted on it.

Until recently, the T-HR3 had to be wired to the control console severely limiting its effective range; this was the only way to reliably transfer such a huge amount of information between the console and robot in real-time. However, working with NTT Docomo, Toyota has successfully demonstrated the unit being controlled over a 5G connection at a range of more than six miles.

The companies conducted the trials at the Docomo R&D Centre in Yokosuka City, using the 28GHz frequency band. They simulated communication lag by measuring delay times between the Odaiba area and Tokyo Skytree in Oshiage, which were then artificially added to the test.

Toyota designed the T-HR3 with remote control in mind, so we aren't surprised to see it reach this point. The companies said that the low latency of the 5G network was essential to keep signal delays to a minimum.

Toyota and NTT Docomo will demonstrate the T-HR3 as part of the Docomo Open House 2018, which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from the 6th - 7th December.