Honda has released a new version of its humanoid robot Asimo. This version is not fundamentally different from the previous one, but nevertheless provides significant improvements in the capabilities of the robot.
The best short (two times faster, or 6 km / h, but more importantly being able to follow a curve or slalom ant between plots). It is accompanied by new sensors, enabling it to better recognize its environment, or to hold a human hand in adapting its movements and displacements. It may finally seize objects and transport, maintaining his balance and adapting is also necessary force permanently.But the most interesting is probably watching the situation being filmed by Honda (link). We can see Asimo serve tea on a tray within a company, pushing a trolley in a corridor, or holding a woman by the hand while walking to his pace.
Probably tired of being told that his robot does not know that walking and signs of the hand, Honda seeks to clearly show that a humanoid robot can provide concrete and useful tasks in different environments. And, more generally, it’s very interesting to see how we prepare Japanese gradually to a future in which we live with humanoid robots that fit perfectly with us.