Honda Updates ASIMO

kosmicki writes "Honda Motor Co. today announced the development of new technologies for the next-generation ASIMO humanoid robot, targeting a new level of mobility that will better enable ASIMO to function and interact with people by quickly processing information and acting more nimbly in real-world environments."

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Videos

[r_glen]

You can see videos of Asimo in action (including his new "tricks") at the Honda site.

Government sponsered, privately built

[Scrameustache]

Japan has a government sponsored humanoid robot devellopment project. And it seems that rivalry between the major corporation also fuels the R&D.

Honda's Asimo is the best of the bunch, but Sony has a doll sized little "entertainment" robot, and Toyota has a trumpet playing robot, not to mention all the universities working on various robotic sub-projects, like facial expression and whatnot (I thought disney's animatronics had the expressiveness thing figured out, maybe my memory has embelished them somewhat).

Asimov expected the U.S. to be the leader in humanoid robots, he couldn't have foreseen this shift in technological leadership, but at least Honda named their creation after him : )

Re:Government sponsered, privately built

[Scrameustache]

He isn't named after Asimov. The name ASIMO is japanese; it means something like "with legs".

There's a japanese leg pun in there too, but it is named after Asimov.

From Wikipedia:

The robot's name is a backronym in honor of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, maker of the Three Laws of Robotics. Officially, the name stands for "Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility". In Japanese, the name is pronounced ashimo and, not coincidentally, means "legs also".