Honda is developing a tiny, self-driving electric vehicle and robot that don’t require a map to navigate and can have human-like conversations with the user.
These new micro-mobility machines(Opens in a new window) bring together Honda CI (Cooperative Intelligence) and Honda AI in a vehicle so small it can carry just one person. They don’t require a huge amount of sensors or access to highly-detailed maps for navigation, instead relying on recognizing their immediate surroundings using cameras and AI.
Honda is set to test two versions of its micro-mobility machines in Japan. The first is called CiKoMa, which will have models capable of carrying one or four passengers. The second is called WaPOCHI, which is a robot that follows a user around “like a pet.”
Most self-driving vehicles rely on high-definition maps combined with a range of sensors and cameras mounted to the vehicle. Honda is taking a much simpler route by developing a real-time road structure recognition system using image data from cameras on the vehicle/robot. Pedestrians and other vehicles would also be recognized.
The vehicle can create its own spatial recognition map for the immediate area around its location, but if a passenger is on board the CiKoMa they can also help direct it using a joystick. The idea behind CiKoMa is to offer a “casual means of transportation for business, sightseeing, or a quick ride around the city,” hence its very small size and simplicity.
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The WaPOCHI robot is designed to be a companion that remembers details about each user it spends time with. Recognition will be triggered via plam vein authentication of the user, and then can be used to carry bags or toher small items, and “support the user with ease in walking.” Honda says that even if WaPOCHI loses sight of the user they are following, the robot will be able to find them again “based on the memorized characteristics.”
Initial testing of the four-passenger CiKoMa and the WaPOCHI is scheduled to start in spring 2023.
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