Toshiba Corporation · retail humanoid
Aiko Chihira
A lifelike android receptionist using 43 motors for gestures and facial expressions; it read pre-programmed scripts and could not hold a conversation.
- Price
- —Not published
- Height
- —Not published
- Weight
- —Not published
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- —Not published
Not sure this is the one? Find the best robot for your job Starts with: greet and guide customers. Five more quick questions.
Why it matters
A retired humanoid from Toshiba (with Osaka University).
Real-world use
Greeted shoppers at Mitsukoshi Nihombashi department store in Tokyo in April-May 2015; a successor, Junco Chihira, gave tourist information at Aqua City Odaiba in 2016.
Maker
Toshiba CorporationCompany · founded 1875 · Kawasaki, Kanagawa, JapanPrivately held since December 2023 after a buyout by a Japan Industrial Partners-led consortium; delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Public attention
A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current humanoids.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- 3 news stories from reputable press listed on this page
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Hands
- simple
- Movement
- Stationary
- Actuators & motors
- 43 actuators, 15 of them in the head for facial expression (Toshiba); arms and hands use an air-servo system with a compressor.
- Sensors & vision
- None at debut; Toshiba said cameras and other sensors could be added. A 2016 sister android used mid-air touch detection at a kiosk.
- Materials & build
- Lifelike skin.
- AI & software
- Pre-recorded speech with Japanese sign language at debut; could not answer questions in 2015.
- Other details
- Developed with Tokyo engineering firm Alab and several Japanese universities.
From the maker
Aiko Chihira is the only humanoid from Toshiba (with Osaka University) in the atlas.
Watch Aiko Chihira
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- Not published
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Sold or delivered
- never sold
- Where it is sold or used
- Japan
- Customers and pilots
- Mitsukoshi Nihombashi, Tokyo (2015); a related android, Chihira Junco, at AQUA CiTY Odaiba (2016)
News
The latest 3, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Sister android at Odaiba mall
Toshiba's Chihira Junco began answering visitors at AQUA CiTY Odaiba in Japanese, English and Chinese.
Inside Retail Asia - Receptionist at Mitsukoshi
Aiko Chihira started greeting shoppers at Mitsukoshi's Tokyo flagship store.
Phys.org (AFP) - Unveiled at CEATEC 2014
Toshiba showed the android signing in Japanese sign language at CEATEC near Tokyo.
PCWorld
Side by side with its peers
Picked by the same rules for every humanoid: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. Few robots match closely, so these are the nearest matches. How we choose
| Measure | Aiko ChihiraToshiba (with Osaka University) |  KiroboToyota, Dentsu, University of Tokyo RCAST and Robo GarageSame job: social · Both fixed in place · Both past robots |
|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2014-10-07 | 2013-06-26 |
| Status | Retired | Retired |
| Height | — | 34 cm |
| Weight | — | 1 kg |
| Joints | — | — |
| Speed | — | — |
| Payload | — | — |
| Battery | — | — |
| Price | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use