Last week, we heard about Yamaha’s motorcycle-riding humanoid robot that would be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show. We weren’t too sure what to expect, since we can’t see too much of a point to an autonomous motorcycle.
Yet, here it is: a robot that can ride a motorcycle. It is called the Yamaha MotoBot Concept. Yamaha’s end goal is to have the robot ride an un-modded motorcycle on a track at more than 124 mph. In addition to creating new and advanced rider safety technologies, the company also hopes to “pioneer new lines of business.”
And by “new lines of business,” we don’t think they mean transforming food delivery services. Track exposure and triple-digit speeds? Sounds like Yamaha is thinking of entering the MotoBot in MotoGP if it becomes fast enough.
But that time hasn’t come. Not yet, at least. In a rather creepy promotional video, the child-like, robot voiceover we imagine is supposed to be MotoBot’s talking voice says, “I was created to surpass you.”
The “you” in question is MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, according to the shots of him in the video. Rossi might have a robo-challenge on his hands sometime in the coming years.
[“source-roadandtrack”]
