5 Minutes
Seven feet two, dressed in black, and rolling onto the court with the kind of composure most rookies would envy, Toyota’s new CUE7 robot is not here for a gimmick. It is here to score.
That alone says plenty about where Toyota is heading. The company may be best known as the world’s largest carmaker, but its history has never been limited to vehicles. Long before it built sedans, SUVs, and hybrids, Toyota began life in the textile industry, developing automatic looms in the early 20th century. Cars came later. Now the brand is pushing into robotics with a machine that can shoot, dribble, and glide across a basketball court with startling precision.
CUE7 made its public debut at an Alvark Tokyo home game at Toyota Arena in Tokyo, becoming the latest chapter in the company’s quietly fascinating CUE project. What started in 2017 as a volunteer driven initiative within Toyota’s Engineering Society has grown into one of the more unusual and compelling experiments in artificial intelligence and motion control coming from any automaker.
And this is not a first attempt. Previous versions of CUE have already built a serious reputation. In 2019, the robot earned a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive free throws by a humanoid robot, sinking an absurd 2,020 in a row. That number still sounds made up. It is not. Then, in 2024, CUE6 added another record by landing the longest basketball shot by a humanoid robot at 24.55 metres.
More than a shooting trick
CUE7 marks a much bigger leap. Toyota describes it as a full model change, and that feels justified. Earlier versions were impressive specialists. This one looks more like a genuine court player. It can move freely, dribble the ball, and shoot with motions designed to feel more natural and human. That matters, because the challenge is no longer just repeating one perfect throw. It is reading the surroundings, adjusting position, controlling the ball, and making all those split second physical decisions that seem effortless when an athlete does them.
The robot achieves that with a network of cameras and sensors positioned from head to wheel. Together, they allow it to analyse distance, angle, timing, and ball handling in real time, then calculate the force and trajectory needed for the shot. In other words, this is not just a flashy mascot for halftime entertainment. It is a rolling demonstration of machine vision, balance control, and precision engineering.
It also looks the part. Wearing a Toyota branded black uniform and balancing on two wheels, CUE7 has a presence that lands somewhere between sports spectacle and science fiction. It stands 2.18 metres tall and weighs 74 kilograms, making it taller than many professional basketball players and lighter than you might expect for a machine packed with this much hardware.
If you were wondering what it would cost to add one to your imaginary roster, the estimate sits at roughly €138,000 based on current exchange rates. Not exactly budget bench depth.
What makes CUE7 interesting, though, is not simply that it can hit baskets. It is the way Toyota is using a playful format to showcase deeper capabilities in robotics and AI. A basketball court is a surprisingly tough proving ground. It demands accuracy, repeatability, movement, and real time adaptation. Put all of that together, and CUE7 becomes more than a novelty. It becomes a glimpse at how advanced robotic systems can interpret the physical world and respond with increasing finesse.
It is still not perfect, and frankly, that may be part of the charm. The occasional imperfection reminds you this is not movie magic. It is engineering in motion, learning and evolving in public. Toyota may not be building robot athletes to challenge the NBA just yet, but with CUE7, it has created something much more interesting than a simple stunt. It has built a machine that turns sport into a test bed for the future.
Comments
Marius
Is this even practical tho? cool demo, but €138k each, safety, batteries, real world chaos... how do they scale past halftime stunts?
mechbyte
wow didnt expect a 7ft bot to move like that. eerie but thrilling. feels like sci fi turning into demo day, and i'm kinda hooked also curious how it handles chaos
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