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ASIMO, Honda’s humanoid robot is back in Malaysia for a third time. On this trip, he’s becoming more of a ‘tourist’ and will also visit Johor Bahru and Penang to show off his new skills. Prior to his appearance at 1-Utama in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday (where he will be performing on stage till Sunday November 16), ASIMO also met students at a special event in Petrosains at KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.
What, you may wonder, does Honda – whose core business is cars, motorcycles and engines – have to do with robots? Firstly, developing a robot to behave like a human being is no easy task; we take for granted our ability to balance our bodies and walk without tumbling but such capabilities are the product of millions of years of evolution. That Honda engineers have been able to get a robot to duplicate such capabilities within less than 20 years demonstrates the company’s advanced technological capabilities.
The evolution of ASIMO over 22 years from crude robots to the 1.3-metre high humanoid design of today. Humans took milliions of years to learn to walk properly
But Honda isn’t doing it just to show off – the idea of developing such a robot and making it as capable as a human being in function is in keeping with the company’s ‘Power of Dreams’ tagline. It helps keep the spirit of challenge going among engineers to turn a dream into a reality. If you know the history of Honda and the way Mr Honda welcomed challenges, then you can understand why Honda products are the way they are.
Finally, the engineers at Honda work on all sorts of machines and if you think about it, ASIMO – which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative MObility – is just another machine, albeit a very intelligent one. Instead of moving around on wheels or tracks, he uses legs. For the engineers, the challenge is how to make this machine perform better, just as they constantly explore ways to make Honda engines better.
ASIMO can now run at 6 km/h, serve drinks and kick a ball
The question is how does this robot project benefit Honda? Would Honda be going into robot manufacture in future? As mentioned earlier, a robot is another kind of machine so it is not inconceivable that if Honda perfects its robot, it could commercialise it. As it is, a number of ASIMOs have already been built and are providing simple services like reception and visitor guidance.
“Honda strives to be a company that society wants to exist and with the power of dreams, we aim to create an ideal robot that one day can ease people’s lives. ASIMO is that dream and we envision him to be another set of eyes, ears, hands and legs for people in need in future,” said Atsushi Fujimoto, Managing Director/CEO of Honda Malaysia. Hopefully, we do not end up with an ‘I, Robot’ or ‘Terminator’ scenarios!
Technologies developed for ASIMO can also be used to make motoring safer, eg night vision and object recognition technology
Even as Honda works on developing the technologies for ASIMO, it gains valuable knowledge and solutions which can be used in automobiles. For example, the voice and object recognition technology can be used in cars to make them safer and the control technologies would also be applicable in enhancing vehicle operation. ASIMO also uses a lithium-ion battery pack and here too, a lot of knowledge would have been gained in battery development which will benefit hybrid and electric vehicles development.
The following is the schedule for ASIMO in Malaysia and at each venue, there will also be a booth where ASIMO goodies can be purchased.