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Honda’s ASIMO Robot

The robot of internationally acclaimed robotics pioneer Honda Motor Company recently started its Alive & Unplugged Australian Tour in Melbourne.  The start of the tour of ASIMO, the Honda robot, featured a sequence of entertaining shows that definitely caused a lot of people to gather at the Chadstone Shopping Centre. 

For five days, ASIMO, an acronym for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, accomplished successful shows that actually amazed the Melbourne audience.  ASIMO showed off its capacity to do human activities such as walking, running, talking, dancing, holding hands, playing soccer, interacting with people, and lifting objects.

The amazing Honda robot is currently heading to Bendigo for another Alive & Unplugged Australian Tour. The event in Bendigo will last for nine weeks.

Facts about ASIMO

Honda Motor Company spent about 21 years gathering research in order to develop a functional robot like ASIMO. At present, Honda runs engineering facilities in Japan, United States and some parts of Europe.  Teams of competent engineers contribute to this continuous progress of this astonishing robot. They carry on with studies that can bring about technological developments that will make ASIMO function more efficiently.

"Honda's concept is to create a robot that can help around the house, or assist the elderly or someone confined to a wheelchair or bed," said Honda Australia Senior Director Lindsay Smalley.  Honda wants to emphasize that ASIMO is the most highly developed among the chain of robots that the Honda team has been producing since 1986. 

The team of Honda engineers is aiming to improve ASIMO in such a way that it can assist people who are in great need.  "That's why ASIMO is just 1.3 metres high so he can communicate eye-to-eye with someone seated in a chair, while still being able to operate light switches and door knobs, and work at tables and work benches. In future, ASIMO might also perform tasks that are dangerous to humans, such as fighting fires or cleaning up toxic spills," said Smalley.

The primary function of ASIMO is to reproduce the intricacies of human perception and motion. ASIMO can in fact walk at 2.7 kph, run at 6 kph, use eye cameras to distinguish the environment he is in, recall motionless objects, and stay away from impediments. It is equipped with force sensors, which are placed in his wrists, to enable it to move objects forward, and accept items. Furthermore, it has an IC Communication card that allows it to communicate with people on its own.

The current ASIMO is more transportable than the previous robots produced by Honda. Having extra foot joints, knee and hip, the ASIMO is definitely easy to move. This is what is called the robot’s "degree of freedom", which can be estimated by quantifying the movements of human beings. The degree of freedom of ASIMO amounts to 34, which covers the various parts of its body.  Such degree of freedom enables this Honda robot to liberally be in motion.

Honda Motor Company can use the technological success of ASIMO to other facets of the business like safety of Honda automobiles. "For instance, what we have learned from ASIMO about human movement has helped us design a more effective crash-test dummy and develop some of the world's safest cars for pedestrians; while the radar ASIMO uses to move around is being adapted for use in Honda cars as Night Vision, and for detecting and avoiding pedestrians while driving," he said.

These days, Honda is trying to win the attention and trust of the Australian market through the amazing robot ASIMO.  The ASIMO 'Alive and Unplugged' Show tour, consists of 124 shows, will introduce ASIMO to people in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, and NSW.

This ASIMO Australian Tour aims to offer consumers details about the distinctive technological abilities and mischievous qualities of ASIMO.  Moreover, it intends to provide people from all walks of life a quick look into what may happen in the future when robots will actually be helping human beings in day to day tasks.