Creating Together Opens a New Future of Self-Driving Cars

Here at Toshiba, we offer two in-house awards named after our founding fathers, Hisashige Tanaka and Ichisuke Fujioka. Tanaka, born in 1799, was nicknamed “Karakuri Giemon”, the genius of mechanical wonders. A genius inventor, he created an “unopenable” inkstone box (with a secret lock) at the age of 9, and later invented the “Myriad Year Clock,” an ornate and incredibly…

An Entire Factory in Cyberspace? : Creating Optimal Worksites through Simulation

Hisashige Tanaka and Ichisuke Fujioka—the founding fathers of Toshiba, were two people who made an enormous impact on the history of modern technology in Japan. Here at Toshiba, we offer two in-house awards named after these two innovative leaders. One of the awards is the Ichisuke Fujioka Award given to employees that have made meaningful contributions to society and towards…

Introducing AI into Electricity Load Forecasting: Deep Learning Optimizes Power Plants’ Operation

In 2017, Toshiba Corporate R&D Center’s system engineering laboratory won the top prize in the 1st Electricity Load Forecasting Technology Contest organized by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO). The contest covered nine days in early September, considered a season where demand was hard to predict. Contestants received electricity load data up to the day before the period and…

Exploring Cyber-Physical Systems with Toshiba’s Corporate Digitization CTO Hiroshi Yamamoto

Throughout time, from the first cave dwellers to space exploration and beyond, humankind has sought to improve life through the relentless pursuit of innovation. That has certainly been the case in Toshiba’s 140-year history, as we have produced traditional physical products (elevators, light bulbs, turbines and more), and then evolved into such digitally- or cyber-oriented products such as computers, software…

What’s Happening on the Front Lines of Weather Radar Technology

Summers in Japan have always been hot, but recently it feels like the dial has broken, the temperature rises and rises every year. And it’s not just the heat. There’s also what are called “guerrilla rainstorms,” which come on suddenly and force citygoers to duck into nearby buildings. These sudden attacks of rain, a form of extreme weather, are a…

The ABCs of Semiconductor Development – a Lesson from a Toshiba Engineer –

“I’ve loved playing with parts from broken PCs and appliances ever since I was a child. You could say that semiconductors were my toys. I enjoyed finding electronic devices and taking them apart to see what was inside. Of course, I couldn’t tell what semiconductors were used for just by looking, so I did my best to look them up…