Preffered Networks Inc. to sell robots that can do house chores

A start-up has developed a robot that can pick up toys and clothes off the floor and put them in their proper places.

Preferred Networks co-founders Daisuke Okanohara, left, and Toru Nishikawa. Picture: Bloomberg News

A start-up that has drawn investment from Toyota Motor Corp. showed off a robot that can pick up toys and clothes off the floor and put them in their proper places.

Tokyo-based Preferred Networks Inc. said it plans to sell robots that could handle tidying up and other household tasks such as receiving packages and putting dirty plates into the dishwasher. It didn’t say when, however, meaning children still likely have years of chores ahead of them.

At a technology exhibition here Monday, the company demonstrated a robot that picked up pens and put them in a holder all in the same direction. It also followed verbal instructions from a person and put a towel into a trash can instead of a laundry bag when told to do so.

The robot sees objects through built-in cameras and uses machine learning to identify them and decide what to do with them. Over time, as it wanders around the house, it makes an inventory of household possessions. According to the company, people can use it as a literal search engine — seeking real objects instead of information.

“In other words, a child would no longer need to wait for his mother’s return to ask where in the room she has put a toy,” said Yuya Unno, a Preferred Networks manager.

The company also showed a video of the robot cleaning up scattered toys, socks and other items and putting them in separate boxes.

Preferred Networks was established in 2014 by a small group of Japanese software engineers and has so far mainly worked on artificial intelligence for robots used in factories. The company says Toyota is its biggest outside investor, but hasn’t disclosed the stake.

The robot hardware used in Monday’s demonstration was made by Toyota, although the car maker wasn’t involved in the demonstration. Toyota said it has been renting out what it calls a “human support robot” to software developers and others with which it has a relationship.

Other Preferred Networks investors include Hitachi Ltd. and factory-robot specialist Fanuc Corp. It is one of a tiny handful of Japanese “unicorns,” or technology start-ups valued at more than $1 billion.

“We’ve decided to step into the consumer market as related technologies available in the industry are reaching a level mature enough for household use,” said Preferred Networks co-founder Daisuke Okanohara. “The business potential of personal robots is large and no companies have dominated the market.”

The company initially developed object-recognition software for robots to sort parts in factories. Mr. Okanohara said the ability to learn how to recognise objects was a fundamental technology behind many household tasks.

The company plans to start selling software for household tasks to other robot makers by 2020 and is looking at making its own personal-use robots, possibly with outside partners, Mr. Okanohara said.

WSJ