| Asimo (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) is a | | | | to his head, he can recognize the movements of an |
| two-legged humanoid robot that stands at 130 | | | | object, the direction were it going and the distance it |
| centimeters and weighs 54 kilograms. Asimo | | | | travels. Other applications that are included in this |
| resembles an astronaut who wears a backpack. He | | | | feature is the ability to follow a person, follow his/her |
| can walk or run at speeds up to 4.3 mph on its two | | | | movements or greet them when he or she |
| feet. | | | | approaches him. |
| This humanoid robot was created by the engineers of | | | | (b) Asimo can recognize gestures and postures - |
| Honda Motors, a company that is known as a | | | | because Asimo can interpret the movement and |
| producer of cars and power supplies. They began | | | | position of the human hand, Asimo can react |
| developing helper robots in 1986. Their vision is to | | | | accordingly to the natural movements of people. An |
| create a robot that can easily move around or inside | | | | example of this is when a person offers a handshake |
| the house, and that means they have to perfect the | | | | or give a wave, he will then respond to them by |
| walking technology of their project. Honda engineers | | | | accepting the handshake or wave back to them. In |
| started their first attempt with the use of boxes with | | | | addition to that, he can also recognize given directions |
| legs. After the walking mechanism has been | | | | like pointing to a specific place. |
| developed, they had added the head, arms and hands. | | | | (c) Asimo can also recognize its environment and act |
| After all the hard work, Honda engineers developed a | | | | in a safe way for him and to humans. An example of |
| new technology that created a walking robot, and | | | | this is that he can recognize potential hazards like |
| named it Asimo. Asimo is using a PowerPC that | | | | stairs and avoid humans being hit or bump by him. |
| controls all the 26 joints. He can be controlled using a | | | | (d) Asimo can distinguish sounds - he can distinguish |
| workstation or via remote control. He is powered by | | | | voices and other sounds and identify the source of it. |
| small but powerful servo motors that have a rotating | | | | He can identify the person that is talking and responds |
| shaft which can move the limbs or surfaces to an | | | | to the persons name and face. Also, he can respond |
| angle as commanded by the use of a controller. In | | | | to different questions as he can either nod for yes or |
| addition, Honda engineers had created a 3D CPU that | | | | shake his head for no and can even speak out with a |
| will give Asimo more computing power. | | | | verbal answer. |
| Asimo has many features that enables him to interact | | | | As of year 2007, there are already 46 Asimo units |
| better with the people, here are some of them: | | | | being assembled by Honda engineers. Each of these |
| (a) Asimo can recognize moving objects- with the use | | | | units is available to for hire for $166,000 a year and |
| of visual data captured by his camera that is attached | | | | cost less than $1,000,000 to manufacture. |