NTT Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. announced Monday the launch of a joint research project to promote the development and use of "partner robots" tasked with helping people in their everyday lives. NTT will provide its Corevo artificial intelligence technology that enhances nonverbal interactions between humans and robots as well as improving voice recognition and dialogue control techniques. They will be incorporated in an existing Human Support Robot developed by Toyota. That robot is capable of basic functions crucial to daily life, including picking up objects from the floor and communicating with families and caregivers. Partner robots that operate in the home helping with tasks such as housework and nursing have been garnering attention amid the increasing labor shortage in quickly graying Japan, Toyota said.

The Japanese car firm Toyota might one start to mass-produce robots to help the elderly. According to Gill Pratt, head of the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), the firm is looking ahead into the distant future when there will robots that help out in homes. The firm could use the same methods it uses now to produce cars on a large scale, making the production of robots cheaper Mr Pratt said. Toyota has already shown an R2-D2-like robot designed to help the elderly, the sick and people in wheelchairs by picking up and carrying objects. Toyotal's home helper robot developer community and working prototype pictured The Japanese car manufacturer announced last year it would invest 1 billion ( 682 million) over the next five years.