Research News
15 Dec, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation has developed three innovative systems (two high-speed real-time trading systems and one asset management system) that, using quantum-inspired optimization computers, Toshiba’s simulated bifurcation machines (SBMs), detect ever-untargeted trading opportunities through quickly analyzing the complicated correlations between many stock prices in Japanese stock market, and demonstrated the execution capability and effectiveness of those systems.
12 Dec, 2023
Toshiba has developed an AI-based high-dimensional Bayesian optimization technology for automatically optimizing large numbers of parameters that would be difficult to explore manually while designing devices such as high-performance power semiconductors and advanced materials.
05 Dec, 2023
TOKYO —Toshiba Corporation has developed the world’s first microwave remote power transfer system that can wirelessly transfer power to remote locations while coexisting with wireless LANs (Wi-Fi). The developed system includes interference avoidance functions that allow efficient power transfer to targeted locations without disrupting local wireless LAN communications, along with technologies that enable efficient power reception regardless of the receiving antenna’s orientation.
30 Nov, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation have developed world-first technologies for the control of robot movement routes based on radio maps as part of NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) ’s “Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems”, successfully controlling a mobile robot swarm in real time using a server centralization technology and Local 5G.
28 Nov, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation has developed a new lithium-ion battery using a cobalt-free 5V-class high-potential cathode material that significantly suppresses performance-degrading gases produced as side reactions. This battery can operate at a wide range of applications, from power tools to electric vehicles.
10 Oct, 2023
Driven by the opportunities arising from the energy transition and decarbonization trends, Bekaert and Toshiba Corporation’s energy arm, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Toshiba ESS), are accelerating their growth strategies in renewable energy markets, particularly in green hydrogen production utilizing Hydrogen Production Technology with Reduced Iridium developed by Toshiba.
26 Sep, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502), has announced world-first advances in LiDAR: technologies that secure an unmatched accuracy of 99.9% in object tracking and object recognition of 98.9% with data acquired by the LiDAR alone. The technologies also significantly improve the environmental robustness and the potential for using LiDAR in many different applications.
LiDAR, light detection and ranging that uses a laser to measure distances to objects, has long been a mainstay of advanced driving and autonomous driving systems. More recently, in combination with cameras, it has been used to create digital twins—virtual replicas of real-world objects and systems that can be used to model performance in order to identify problems and to improve operations in many industries.
21 Sep, 2023
Düsseldorf, Germany – Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) an innovator in technologies for a better future, has established a “Regenerative Innovation Centre” (“the Centre”) in Düsseldorf, Germany, where it will work with business partners and collaborators to accelerate leading-edge capabilities in advancing the realization of carbon neutrality and a circular economy (“CN-CE”) through digitalization.
12 Sep, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) and Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation have developed an AI for road surface anomaly detection that enables highly accurate real-time detection of potholes on the surface of expressways that may lead to a serious accident, and the effectiveness of this AI technology was verified by improving routine inspection of expressways by the Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited (NEXCO Central). Results were promising for real-world application of this pothole detection system using AI.
26 Jun, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) has developed a world-first compact sensing technology that can simultaneously and rapidly measure gas concentrations in real-world environment, even for gas mixtures containing three or more gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen (H2), and carbon monoxide (CO). Compared with gas chromatography, the method conventionally used to measure gas concentrations, the developed system is less than 1/200th the size and operates over 150 times faster. The miniaturization technology is based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, which uses microfabrication technologies to integrate electrical circuits and micromechanical components such as sensors and actuators on a single substrate. Using proprietary MEMS technologies, Toshiba has realized high-speed, compact, and simultaneous measurements of multiple gas concentrations by batch-forming ultra-small sensors with different sensitivities on a single substrate and using an algorithm to process each sensor’s detection values. Using a prototype, Toshiba demonstrated the effectiveness of this compact sensing technology under real-world environment with a mixture of gases including CO2, H2, and CO.
This technology enables real-time monitoring of concentrations of gases including CO2, H2, and CO in the mixture. It also contributes to improving the efficiency of technologies for converting CO2 into valuable gas resources, and furthermore enables direct measurements of the emissions of various greenhouse gases, which are currently calculated as CO2 equivalents, enabling the acquisition of highly reliable carbon footprint data.
Toshiba will present the details of this technology on June 28 at TRANSDUCERS 2023, one of the most prestigious international conferences in the MEMS field, to be held in Kyoto from June 25 to 29.
22 Jun, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) has succeeded in the world’s first demonstration of the use of Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), a general-purpose, ultra-low-power wireless standard, to wirelessly monitor the status of power storage modules in a battery storage system subject to severe radio interference and reflections. It was demonstrated, both theoretically and through demonstration tests in an actual storage battery system, that occurrences of system errors can be reduced to less than one per 10-year period through a unique design based on the specifications of the storage battery system.
23 Mar, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) developed a compact, high-sensitivity odor sensor that detects specific odor, for on-site maintenance and inspection of social infrastructure facilities. Using a quartz crystal resonator (QCR) *1 based compact and inexpensive sensor, and proprietary technology that evenly coats a thin film of a metal organic framework (MOF)*2, which well absorbs specific odors, Toshiba has realized high-sensitivity detection performance for the sensor, although it is less expensive and smaller than conventional analyzers with a volume ratio of less than few tenths in comparison.
Recently, Toshiba has applied this technology to musty odor that arise in drinking water sources and tap water, and succeeded to detect 2-methylisoborneol (“2-MIB”), the main cause of such odors, with a concentration of 0.2ppbv (2 parts per 10 billion) in air. This level of performance satisfies the standards for an aqueous concentration of 10ng/L and under (1g per 100 million within 1L of water), which represents the water quality standards for 2-MIB based on the Waterworks Act of Japan*3.
The detection of musty odor typically requires the installation of a large analyzer. Additionally, inspections based on sensory evaluations that depend on the experience and olfactory sense of the inspector are also conducted in great number. The utilization of this technology in odor anomaly inspections conducted at purification plants is anticipated to result in greater automation and efficiency of musty odor inspections at those plants. Additionally, coating the sensor with different types of thin film makes it possible to apply this technology in sensors for detecting non-musty off-odors, such as oily, scorched, or metallic odors. Going forward, this technology holds the promise of being applied to anomaly inspections in the areas of quality and production control at food and beverage manufacturers in addition to the maintenance and inspection of social infrastructure facilities.
Toshiba will announce the details of this technology at the 103rd CSJ Annual Meeting, which will be held on the Noda Campus of the Tokyo University of Science starting on March 22.
Recently, Toshiba has applied this technology to musty odor that arise in drinking water sources and tap water, and succeeded to detect 2-methylisoborneol (“2-MIB”), the main cause of such odors, with a concentration of 0.2ppbv (2 parts per 10 billion) in air. This level of performance satisfies the standards for an aqueous concentration of 10ng/L and under (1g per 100 million within 1L of water), which represents the water quality standards for 2-MIB based on the Waterworks Act of Japan*3.
The detection of musty odor typically requires the installation of a large analyzer. Additionally, inspections based on sensory evaluations that depend on the experience and olfactory sense of the inspector are also conducted in great number. The utilization of this technology in odor anomaly inspections conducted at purification plants is anticipated to result in greater automation and efficiency of musty odor inspections at those plants. Additionally, coating the sensor with different types of thin film makes it possible to apply this technology in sensors for detecting non-musty off-odors, such as oily, scorched, or metallic odors. Going forward, this technology holds the promise of being applied to anomaly inspections in the areas of quality and production control at food and beverage manufacturers in addition to the maintenance and inspection of social infrastructure facilities.
Toshiba will announce the details of this technology at the 103rd CSJ Annual Meeting, which will be held on the Noda Campus of the Tokyo University of Science starting on March 22.
13 Mar, 2023
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) has developed an AI that understands specialized technical documents of factories and plants in the infrastructure sector with high efficiency and accuracy: it understands accumulated sector-specialized documents (hereinafter, “specialized data”) including technical drawings, machine specifications, and inspection/incident reports, thereby enabling more effective inspection and maintenance. Whereas efficient learning of general terms from a large general-purpose language model (teacher model) is widely available, the developed AI learns sector-specific technical terms using a separate curriculum with a limited amount of specialized data. Such efficient learning of both general and technical terms enables generation of small-scale language models (student models), thereby allowing for accurate understanding of technical documents with limited computational resources.
Specialized data that accumulates experts’ experiences and knowledge were previously difficult for an AI to understand. However, specialized data can be utilized by the developed AI in actual infrastructure maintenance. It can extract phenomena in previous incidents as well as measures to solve them with high accuracy. This AI is expected to contribute to faster corrective maintenance and to the realization of condition-based maintenance.
Toshiba will present this AI at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Association for Natural Language Processing (NLP2023, Okinawa, March 13-17, 2023), which will be held in a hybrid format.
Toshiba aims to achieve “proactive maintenance” including condition based maintenance with utilization of experts’ knowledge in future.
Specialized data that accumulates experts’ experiences and knowledge were previously difficult for an AI to understand. However, specialized data can be utilized by the developed AI in actual infrastructure maintenance. It can extract phenomena in previous incidents as well as measures to solve them with high accuracy. This AI is expected to contribute to faster corrective maintenance and to the realization of condition-based maintenance.
Toshiba will present this AI at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Association for Natural Language Processing (NLP2023, Okinawa, March 13-17, 2023), which will be held in a hybrid format.
Toshiba aims to achieve “proactive maintenance” including condition based maintenance with utilization of experts’ knowledge in future.