Yamaha Motobot Rides Your Motorcycle For You - VIDEO

Amid the flurry of concept cars and hyperventilating press releases at the Tokyo Motor Show, Yamaha has introduced something that is truly breathtaking. It’s Motobot, a robot that can ride a production motorcycle and do it better than almost any human rider on earth. It even has issued a challenge to Valentino Rossi, current MotoGP world champion: “I am improving my skills every day. I was created to surpass you.” Here’s what Yamaha, via AutoBlog, has to say about Motobot and why it created the cyborg with its advanced artificial intelligence.

This is an autonomous motorcycle-riding humanoid robot built around a fusion of Yamaha’s motorcycle and robotics technology. R&D is currently underway with the goal of developing the robot to ride an unmodified motorcycle on a racetrack at more than 200 km/h. The task of controlling the complex motions of a motorcycle at high speeds requires a variety of control systems that must function with a high degree of accuracy. We want to apply the fundamental technology and know-how gained in the process of this challenge to the creation of advanced rider safety and rider-support systems and put them to use in our current businesses, as well as using them to pioneer new lines of business.

What new lines of business is Yamaha thinking about? It doesn’t say, but could a mild mannered personal servant with the ability to communicate in over 6,000,000 languages be a possibility? Something that in the heat of battle could utter such memorable lines as  “Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one!” For now, Yamaha is content to get Motobot revved up to where it can function effectively at speeds up to 200 kph on a race track.

Perhaps on some sunlit tomorrow day, we will be able to sit in the comfort of our climate controlled living room, put on our virtual reality headgear and experience the thrill of piloting a high performance motorcycle like Yamaha’s R1M without ever having to get off the couch. Is that a good thing?