Robots in Toyota City and castle in Nagoya

Due to a business trip to Nagoya, I(h) got a chance to see one of Japans many castles. As most of the major castles in Japan, the original was destroyed during World War II. The reconstuction was still impressive though:


The biggest impression left in Nagoya was not the castle though, but a visit to the Toyota factories in Toyota City (yep, Toyota has a city named after them!). The visit left a feeling of science fiction and reality is merging.
The high technology factories was equipped with a conveyer belt in the assembly hall, that did not just assemble one type of car, but several types of cars following each other. This was done with practically no parts on the line to assemble the car with. Toyota must have the most efficient warehouse management system in the World! No wonder why the entire car industry and practically all other industries (including the pharmaceutical industry) are copying the production principles of Toyota.

The science fiction and futuristic ideas of Toyota was presented at an exhibition at the Head Quarter, which included a trumphet playing robot. Of cause.

Toyota also presented the scooter (i-unit) of the future:

This is Henriks car, seen in another perspective: