Yamaha unveils 'Motobot' motorcycle-riding robot

Yamaha Motor Company unveiled its latest 'Motobot' robot, capable of riding a motorcycle on its own around a racetrack.

Yamaha has been advancing its research and development basing on its unique development ideal, the latest being an autonomous motorcycle-riding humanoid robot that brings together Yamaha's motorcycle and robotics technology.

"Over the past three years, we have been fine-tuning Motobot's skills for path correction and controlling of the bike's speed, acceleration, deceleration, attitude and more, and finally, Motobot succeeded in hitting over 200 kilometers per hour on the track," said Hiroyuki Yanagi, President, CEO and Representative Director of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

Although Motobot still hasn't beaten MotoGP star Valentino Rossi's lap time, he has significantly narrowed the gap and now sees Rossi in the distance.

Motoroid autonomously performs the movements and positioning especially when balancing is most difficult, like when starting off or at a standstill.

Yamaha Motor's Leaning multi-wheel or LMW technology extends not only to two-wheel but expands to even three wheels and four-wheels.

In the sport bike segment, the twin front wheels provide exceptional cornering performance - large-displacement 3-cylinder Sport LMW, the NIKEN. The design concept model MWC-4 with two-wheels in front and rear combines LMW technology and EV technology.

On the other hand, Yamaha Motor presents a unique concept for a sport-utility vehicle, the Cross Hub Concept. It has a unique diamond-shaped four-seat cabin and enough space in the rear to carry two motorcycles, and put it all together in a compact, utility-focused package.