Honda Motor Co’s human-shaped robot can now run faster, balance itself on uneven surfaces, hop on one foot and pour a drink. Some of its technology might even be used to help out with clean-up operations at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Honda’s demonstration of the revamped Asimo yesterday at its Tokyo suburban research facility was not only to prove that the bubble-headed childlike machine was more limber and a bit smarter.
It was a way to try to answer some critics that Asimo, first shown in 2000, had been of little practical use so far, proving to be nothing more than a glorified toy and cute showcase for the Honda brand.
Photo: AFP
Honda president Takanobu Ito told reporters some of Asimo’s technology was used to develop a robotic arm in just six months with the intention of helping with the nuclear crisis in northeastern Japan.
According to Honda, the mechanical arm can open and close valves at Fukushima plant, which went into meltdown after the March earthquake and tsunami. The automaker is working with the utility behind the problem plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co, to try to meet demands to bring the plant under control.
Ito acknowledged that the first idea was to send in Asimo to help out, but that was not possible because the robot cannot maneuver in rubble and its delicate computer parts would malfunction in radiation.
However, in yesterday’s demonstration, Asimo was able to walk without falling over 2cm padded bumps on the floor.
It can also now jog faster than it did in 2005, at 9kph, instead of the earlier 6kph, pushing better with its toes so its run was smoother and not as jerky.
Asimo was also able to distinguish the voices of three people spoken at once, using face recognition and analyzing sound, to figure out that one woman wanted hot coffee, another orange juice and still another milk tea.
The new Asimo got improved hands as well, allowing individual movement of each finger, so it could do sign language.
“My name is Asimo,” it said, making the signs of its words with stubby fingers.
It also opened a thermos bottle and gracefully poured juice into a paper cup.
Ito said Asimo had developed autonomous artificial intelligence so that it could potentially maneuver itself through crowds of people, without remote control or stopping each time to check on its programming.
However, he acknowledged that making robotics into a practical business will take more time, meaning Asimo is not about to show up in any home soon.
“Maybe at the start this was a dream of engineers to make a machine that was close to a human being, like Astro Boy,” he said. “We think Asimo is good.”
Other manufacturers are also developing robots, eager to cash in on the expected needs of Japan’s rapidly aging population.
Toyota Motor Corp, Japan’s top automaker, is among those to have jumped on the robotics bandwagon.
In the past, it has shown robots that can play the violin and talk like receptionists. Last week, it showed a computerized device that latches on to the body to help old or sick people walk and keep balance.
Honda has developed similar brace-like gadgets to help people get about.
Neither the Toyota nor Honda product is on sale yet.
Still, experts say such research is important to keep up.
“Maybe it can’t be put to use right away, but it is definitely a technology that we should keep working on to advance,” Hiroshi Kobayashi, a mechanical engineering professor at Tokyo University of Science, said of the new Asimo.
“It is common for what we achieve in research to turn out later to lead to many products,” said Kobayashi, who has developed experimental robots.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS