Yamaha Motor Co has announced today that its humanoid riding robot – MOTOBOT – has moved into its second phase of development, and that the current partnership in joint development with SRI International is set to continue.

MOTOBOT is an autonomous motorcycle-riding humanoid robot that approaches riding operations from a human riders standpoint — with no modifications made to the motorcycle itself. The end goal of MOTOBOT is to become capable of competing against Valentino Rossi’s lap times around a racetrack. Yamaha says the knowledge and highly advanced fundamental technologies gained from this challenge will be put to use in developing new products.

Presentations on the MOTOBOT open innovation model project headed by Yamaha Motor and SRI representatives are scheduled to take place on January 8 at the CES global consumer electronics and technology tradeshow being held in Las Vegas, where in recent years, fields such as autonomous driving and robotics have been featured.

Being an automated humanoid robot able to ride a non-modified motorcycle, the MOTOBOT (which uses a YZF-R1M) became a hot topic of conversation when it was exhibited at the 44th Tokyo Motor Show in 2015. The objective is for a riding performance of over 200kph on a riding circuit by 2017. Following phase one, phase two further develops the platform technology toward actual circuit riding. Furthermore, the sophisticated technologies acquired in achieving the high objectives detailed here are also intended to be applied to advanced technologies and rider support systems in the future, as well as other options that may segue into new business development.