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Toyota Has Workers Train Humanoids for a 400,000-Robot Upgrade

Toyota says people and robots will work together, but the company has not disclosed how large a role humanoids will play in its broader factory-automation target.

By 2 min read
Toyota Has Workers Train Humanoids for a 400,000-Robot Upgrade
Toyota Has Workers Train Humanoids for a 400,000-Robot Upgrade

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Toyota is having factory workers teach a wheeled, two-handed humanoid robot how to perform assembly movements—using jigs shaped around the machine’s fingers. The robot is called ELEY, and the training is hands-on: people at Toyota’s factories are showing it the precise motions that production work demands. That effort sits inside a much bigger automation plan. Beginning in 2028, Toyota reportedly expects to spend 6.42 billion dollars a year upgrading factory robots. The target is 400,000 machines across the Toyota group: 150,000 in Toyota’s automotive plants, and another 250,000 at group companies making components and materials. The important distinction is that 400,000 is not a count of humanoids. Toyota has not said how many of those planned robots will have a human-like form, how many ELEY-style machines are involved, or how many robots it has already deployed. So the headline number describes a broad robotics rollout, not a confirmed humanoid fleet. Toyota’s stated model is collaboration rather than replacement. Executive vice president Hiroki Nakajima described a future in which robots coexist with people. That framing matters because the initial teaching is being done by Toyota’s own workforce: 18,000 veteran employees across 60 factories worldwide, including 11 manufacturing plants in the United States. The key constraint is still visibility. Toyota has set a large spending and deployment target, but the role—and scale—of humanoids within it remains undisclosed.

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3 key points

Toyota is building toward a 400,000-robot factory upgrade beginning in 2028, backed by reported annual spending of $6.42 billion. The plan covers 150,000 robots for automotive plants and 250,000 at component and materials companies across the group—not 400,000 humanoids. Employees are currently teaching the wheeled, two-handed ELEY robot assembly motions using finger-based jigs. Toyota frames the effort as...

  1. 01

    The rollout targets 150,000 robots in Toyota automotive plants and 250,000 at group-company facilities.

  2. 02

    Toyota reportedly plans to spend $6.42 billion annually on robot upgrades starting in 2028.

  3. 03

    Workers at Toyota’s 60 factories are teaching ELEY assembly movements with jigs modeled on its fingers.

Toyota is preparing a factory-automation push aimed at 400,000 robots across its plants and group companies. At the center of its humanoid work, factory employees are teaching ELEY robots the precise hand movements used on assembly lines, while Toyota says the machines are meant to coexist with workers rather than replace them.

The training is hands-on. ELEY is a wheeled humanoid with two hands for manipulation, and workers are teaching it assembly tasks requiring precise movements. According to Nikkei Asia reporting cited by Ars Technica, workers use jigs based on the robots’ fingers during that instruction.

The planned rollout is far larger than the currently described ELEY training. Toyota aims to place 150,000 robots in its automotive plants and 250,000 more at group-company facilities that make components and materials. Nikkei Asia reported that Toyota Motor group plans to invest $6.42 billion annually in factory robot upgrades beginning in 2028.

a world where robots coexist with humans, rather than replacing them

Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota executive vice president

The robot target is not a humanoid target

Toyota has not disclosed how many of its planned 400,000 machines will be humanoids, or how many robots it has already deployed overall. The headline number therefore covers a broader factory-robotics plan, not a stated count of ELEY-style machines. It also includes sites beyond Toyota’s own automotive assembly plants.

A workforce remains central to the plan

Toyota has 18,000 veteran workers across 60 factories worldwide, including 11 manufacturing plants in the United States. The company’s choice to have workers train ELEY machines puts people directly in the initial teaching process. Nakajima’s statement describes Toyota’s intended relationship between people and robots, rather than a disclosed allocation of future responsibilities.

Sources

  1. arstechnica.comToyota orders workers to train humanoid robots but says humans won't be replaced

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