On November 29, 2018, NTT DOCOMO cooperating with Toyota Motor Corporation declared that they have created fully controlled the Toyota-developed T-HR3 humanoid robot, which uses 5G mobile communications. During the test robot was operated from a distance of around 10 kilometers in between two points, it was possible due to steering via 5G assistance.
The T-HR3 robot was presented almost year ago, but it was not put on test in remote control beyond lab conditions, because of the problem with lags. Toyota’s engineers solved also a problem connected with the long period of latency, which was noticeable matter in the old one. T-HR3 looks like taken out from Avatar movie and has almost the same steering system.
This humanoid robot is able to go through the motions of plugged in human. Robot is equipped with balance sensors, which guarantee a stability and freedom of movement. Deployment of hydraulic gears imitating human’s joins is also a surprisingly clever solution, that gives possibility to mimic even gentle and precise moves. Toyota claims that this robot can be used in healthcare and homes, but a vast majority of tech commentators consider T-HR3 as next super inteligent war machine. However, Toyota has shown a future direction of usage of 5G and introduced how to exploit the full potential of that technology.
Sources:
https://www.tabletowo.pl/2018/11/30/toyota-ma-pomysl-na-5g-w-robocie-t-hr3/
https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2018/1129_01.html
https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/toyota-taps-docomo-5g-to-remotely-control-its-humanoid-robot/
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I think that this humanoid robot opens so many possibilities, for example it may be used by a firefighters when situation is too dangerous to let people go inside the burning building. It may be used to rescue people stuck in a mine that is going to collapse – when perfected it will be a great tool used for saving lives without risking your own! On the other side of the coin – I can totally see it wielding a gun and shooting to innocent people. I think that everyone has to ask himself – is it worth it?