Honda Reveals All-New ASIMO Humanoid Robot

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has further cemented its position as a world leader in advanced robotics, with the unveiling of an all-new ASIMO humanoid robot. The latest ASIMO is equipped with the world's first* autonomous behaviour control technology, making it the most advanced humanoid robot ever.

With this further development in autonomy, the all-new ASIMO can now continue moving independently without being operator-controlled. Its significantly improved intelligence and physical ability to adapt to situations, means ASIMO has taken another step closer to practical use in an office or public space.

All-new ASIMO stands at 130cm, enabling good eye contact with those sitting down, and weighs 48kg. It can walk, run, run backward, hop on one leg or on two legs continuously. Its advanced intelligence capability means it can even respond to the movements of others to avoid potential collisions. Face and voice recognition has also been incorporated and ASIMO can recognise the voices of multiple people speaking simultaneously. ASIMO can even pick up a glass bottle and unscrew the cap as well as make sign language expressions.

ASIMO is the culmination of decades of humanoid robotics research by Honda engineers, who embarked on their ambitious plans in 1986, with a dream of creating a walking robot. Years of research and several prototypes later, the original ASIMO was unveiled in 2000. Driven to create the ultimate humanoid robot, Honda engineers have worked continuously behind the scenes to improve their design with the introduction of an improved ASIMO in 2005 and now the latest all-new ASIMO.

With a long-standing programme of research and development in robotics and human mobility, Honda’s goal is to develop a robot that will help people in their everyday lives and potentially assist those with mobility issues. Ultimately, the leading edge technologies developed for ASIMO will provide a springboard for new Honda products and so shape the future of human mobility.

Honda New Zealand welcomes the new ASIMO, which Managing Director, Graeme Seymour sees as an opportunity to celebrate the great strides Honda has made in robotic innovation.

“With its autonomous behaviour control technology, the latest all-new ASIMO is a triumph for Honda in the domain of robotic development. It opens up immense possibilities for future use and applications in all walks of life,” says Graeme.

“The unveiling of the all-new ASIMO is also timely, given that we’ve just celebrated the eleventh birthday of the original ASIMO, which upon its debut eleven years ago was also heralded as a pioneering breakthrough in robotics. It’s an amazing achievement for Honda to still be leading the way in technological advancement,” adds Graeme.

Honda has also announced a collective name, Honda Robotics, which will represent all of its robotics technologies and product applications created through its research and development of humanoid robots. While continuing the research and development of humanoid robots, Honda will also focus on applying robotics technologies to mass-produced products and putting product applications into practical use.

Based on this concept of Honda Robotics, Honda also introduced an experimental model of a task-performing robot arm that was developed while applying multi-joint simultaneous orbit control and posture control technologies amassed through the research and development of ASIMO.

This robot arm can be remotely controlled to perform tasks in unstable places which are difficult for people to access.

ASIMO Technical Specifications:

All-new ASIMO

The all-new ASIMO is now advanced from an "automatic machine" to an "autonomous machine" with the decision-making capability to determine its behaviour in concert with its surroundings such as movements of people. At the beginning of the development process, the following three factors were identified as necessary for a robot to perform as an autonomous machine, and the technologies required to realise these capabilities were developed; 1) high-level postural balancing capability which enables the robot to maintain its posture by putting out its leg in an instant, 2) external recognition capability which enables the robot to integrate information, such as movements of people around it, from multiple sensors and estimate the changes that are taking place, and 3) the capability to generate autonomous behaviour which enables the robot to make predictions from gathered information and autonomously determine the next behaviour without being controlled by an operator. With these capabilities, the all-new ASIMO takes another step closer to practical use in an environment where it coexists with people.

1. Advancement of intelligence capability

Honda has developed a new system that is a fundamental technology for advanced intelligence, which comprehensively evaluates inputs from multiple sensors that are equivalent to the visual, auditory, and tactile senses of a human being, then estimates the situation of the surrounding environment and determines the corresponding behaviour of the robot. With this technology, ASIMO became capable of responding to the movement of people and the surrounding situations. For instance, ASIMO will stop its current action and change its behaviour to accommodate the intention of the other party. Moreover, coordination between visual and auditory sensors enables ASIMO to simultaneously recognise a face and voice, enabling ASIMO to recognise the voices of multiple people who are speaking simultaneously, which is difficult even for a human being to accomplish.

ASIMO is now capable of predicting the direction a person will walk within the next few seconds based on information from pre-set space sensors and quickly determining to take an alternate path to avoid a collision with the person if the estimated locations of the person and the ASIMO intersect.

2. Advancement of physical capability

The combination of strengthened legs, an expanded range of leg movement and a newly developed control technology that enables ASIMO to change landing positions in the middle of a motion has enabled ASIMO to walk, run, run backward, hop on one leg or on two legs continuously. As a result of acquiring the ability to make such agile motions, ASIMO has become capable of more flexibly adapting to changing external situations so that it can, for example, walk over an uneven surface while maintaining a stable posture.

3. Improved task-performing capability

Honda has developed a highly functional compact multi-fingered hand, which has a tactile sensor and a force sensor imbedded on the palm and in each finger, respectively, and which acts to control each finger independently. Combined with the object recognition technology based on visual and tactile senses, this multi-fingered hand enables the all-new ASIMO to perform tasks with dexterity, such as picking up a glass bottle and twisting off the cap, or holding a soft paper cup to pour a liquid without squashing it. Moreover, ASIMO is now capable of making sign language expressions which require the complex movement of fingers.

Key specifications of the all-new ASIMO

1. Height 130cm

2. Weight 48kg (decreased 6kg from previous model)

3. Operating degrees of freedom Total: 57 degrees of freedom (increase of 23 degrees of freedom from previous model)

4. Running speed 9km/hour (previous model: 6km/hour)

ENDS

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