Humanoid & robot atlas
No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to use
RetiredSucceeded by CUE3 Japan

Toyota Research Institute · research humanoid

CUE

first generation

An AI basketball-shooting humanoid started in 2017 by Toyota volunteers in their spare time; the first version needed about a minute between shots and often missed. CUE2 (November 2018) added three-pointers.

Price
—Not published
Height
—Not published
Weight
—Not published
Payload
—Not published
Speed
—Not published
Battery
—Not published
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Why it matters

A retired humanoid from Toyota Motor Corporation.

Real-world use

Debuted at Alvark Tokyo home games on 28 March 2018; the project became official work in May 2018.

Timeline

First shown
2018-03-28
Released
Not yet
Alvark Tokyo home game (B.League)

Maker

Toyota Research InstituteCompany · founded 2016 · Los Altos, California, United States

Toyota subsidiary; launched with $1 billion over five years.

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 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement
Stationary
Actuators & motors
Electric motors driving the throwing arm; Toyota gives no motor type or count for the first version.
Hands
Simple fixed ball-holding hand; Toyota notes shot consistency depended on how the ball sat in the hand and left it.
Materials & build
Resin exterior made by engineers at Toyota's Hirose Plant; team bought parts directly to keep costs down and built circuit boards with plant engineers (applies to the CUE series as described in 2019).
AI & software
Goal described as an AI that works out the distance to the hoop by itself; no AI method named for the first version.
Other details
Built by Toyota volunteers in their spare time under the Toyota Engineering Society (founded 1947); needed a long reset between shots (Toyota gives about a minute in one diary entry and about three minutes in another). In its first TES demonstration it scored 9 of 10 shots.

Named suppliers:Hirose Electric

Lineage

Every Toyota Motor Corporation humanoid in order.

  1. Toyota Partner Robot (walking type)Toyota Partner Robot (walking type)2004Retired
  2. Toyota Partner Robot (violin-playing)Toyota Partner Robot (violin-playing)2007Retired
  3. Toyota Partner Robot (running humanoid)Toyota Partner Robot (running humanoid)2009Retired
  4. Human Support Robot (HSR)Human Support Robot (HSR)2012Research
  5. KiroboKirobo2013Retired
  6. T-HR3T-HR32017Research
  7. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useCUE (first generation)2018Retired
  8. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useCUE32019Retired
  9. CUE6CUE62022Research
  10. PunyoPunyo2024Research
  11. CUE7CUE72026Research

Toyota Research Institute also makes 1 machine and 1 vehicle. See every Toyota Research Institute robot

Watch CUE (first generation)

Video: ALVARK TOKYO on YouTube. Plays from youtube-nocookie.com when you press play.

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
Built
1 (one-off research robot)
Sold or delivered
not sold
Where it is sold or used
Hirose Plant, Toyota City, Aichi, Japan (main development site)
Customers and pilots
Alvark Tokyo (B.League) hosted its performances

News

The latest 3, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.

  1. Toyota diary recounts how the volunteer CUE project began

    Toyota's first development-diary article traces CUE from a hobby project inspired by the manga SLAM DUNK to official work at the Frontier Research Center.

    Toyota
  2. CUE becomes an official Toyota project

    After starting as spare-time volunteer work in April 2017, the basketball robot project was made an official task.

    Toyota
  3. First CUE shoots at an Alvark Tokyo home game

    The first-generation robot made its public game debut at a B.League half-time show in Tokyo.

    Toyota

Sources

Figures come from the maker. Every link below backs something on this page.

Toyota CUE6 unveiled (CUE project timeline) Toyota Toyota's AI basketball robot CUE3 sets Guinness record Toyota The Development Diary of CUE, the AI Basketball Robot: First story

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