Toyota Canada’s newest employees won’t be hacking darts in the parking lot or going out for beers after work
What happened: Toyota is employing seven humanoid robots from Agility Robotics at its Woodstock, Ontario, assembly plant to aid in the production of RAV4 SUVs. The bots, called Digits, got the gig after Toyota conducted a year-long pilot where it also tested other bots.
In the still-nascent humanoid robot industry, Digit is an early winner. It was the first bot to get a paying job and works at plants for various companies, including Amazon.
Why it matters: The auto industry represents a major potential customer for humanoid robots, but Toyota is actually the first automaker in Canada to trot them out on the floor for commercial production. The Oshawa plant will be a proving ground for further industry use.
These robots promise to boost productivity and reduce stress on workers in the most physically demanding tasks, leaving them room to focus on more rewarding duties.
Of course, this comes with job loss fears. A Toyota spokesperson told the Toronto Star the bots are “absolutely not” meant to replace workers… but one has to wonder.
Big picture: The performance of humanoid robots can be more fickle than the performance of the Canadian men’s hockey team (please win gold), but that’s not stopping auto industry giants from pursuing them, like Canada’s Magna International and Hyundai — which is building them in-house via Boston Dynamics. And don’t forget Tesla, which has partially staked its future on humanoids.—QH