ASIMO: The Walking, Running, Drinks Pouring Robot

The car manufacturer Honda revealed a new updated version of its ASIMO robot this week which is absolutely stunning.

Honda robotics has been developing robots for 25 years, with their first being a pair of robotic legs that could walk. After much development and a number of upgrades, the robot revealed this week has capable of running, hopping and even performing hand tasks such as opening a bottle to pour a drink. Measuring four feet tall and weighing 105 pounds, the futuristic looking ASIMO has excellent visual and auditory sensors which enable the robot to perform many human tasks and even surpass them, for example being able to recognise many voices at one time when people are speaking simultaneously

Seeing ASIMO in action is very impressive and a joy to watch but the actual practical uses of what a robot like this could be used for is even more impressive. Being able to access areas that are inaccessible to humans during disasters and handling hazardous goods are all benefits of having a robot capable of these types of movements. Honda have been able to vastly improve the ability of its robotics in a fairly short period of time. Have a look at this video of ASIMO in action or see the Honda website for an impressive history of their robotics division.

Major production of this kind of robotics is still far off in the future, so we’ll stick to PCB assembly for now.