Toyota Motor (7203.T): Nikkei Reports Toyota Plans to Deploy 400,000 Humanoid Robots: Active Commitment to Physical AI

The Nikkei newspaper dated September 18 reported that Toyota plans to introduce 400,000 humanoid robots to its factories. The robots will reportedly feature two-fingered hands, wheels instead of bipedal walking, and a weight of 50kg. While the timeline for the deployment of these 400,000 units is not explicitly mentioned, the plan allocates 150,000 units to Toyota's own factories and 250,000 units to parts supplier factories. Since the report notes that these robots are already learning from human workers' movements, we assume that physical AI is being utilized. Consequently, we believe that rather than pre-programming repetitive tasks using a rule-based approach, this news suggests that the company ultimately aims to flexibly handle a wide range of tasks in the future. In contrast, humanoid robot development in the US and China predominantly features multi-fingered (five-finger) hands and bipedal walking, often targeting service robot applications in addition to factory use. While Toy