Tag: honda
2007 in Review No. 10: Asimo is the best robot yet
Part of our series of festive posts looking back at the key happenings in 2007… Alas, poor AIBO. He was put to metaphorical sleep just as consumers started to get properly excited about robots. Rumour has it he’ll return in 2008, but until then, Honda’s Asimo is undisputed top dog in the robot world. And he didn’t have to lasergun anyone to achieve it.
Hybrid cars will make up 10% of its car sales by 2010, says Honda
Honda’s definitely gunning for the whole ‘green’ thing, claiming that 10% of all the company’s car sales will be of hybrid models by 2010. That’s over 400,000 cars.
This is thanks to newer, cheaper hybrids it’s planning on introducing, plus sales of the existing Civic Hybrid…
Video: See Honda's Asimo robot serve coffee
This is what consumer robotics is all about: humanoid waiters that serve us hot beverages. I’ve just been writing about the new features for Honda Asimo, but there’s also a video showing the bot flaunting his new barista skills. Watch it above.
Honda Asimo gets smarter, eyes world domination
That headline’s a bit harsh: Asimo is a friendly robot really, keen to help humankind while playing the odd spot of football. So when Honda introduces new features to make him smarter, it’s not something we should worry about. Really.
Tech Digest's Robot World Cup: Semi-Final
No, we hadn’t forgotten about it. We were just giving the final bots in our Robot World Cup a few weeks to rest their bones (well, mechanical joints) before rejoining battle. And what a battle it is. We’re at the semi-final stage, which means the last four robots in the competition. Three of ’em are humanoid: Honda’s Asimo, WowWee’s Robosapien RS Media, and KornTech’s Rogun. The quartet is completed by iRobot’s military Packbot, which swaps legs for tank treads.
Tech Digest's Robot World Cup: Quarter Final
Yes, okay, so there’s been a bit of delay between Round Three of our Robot World Cup and the quarter finals. They needed some oil after three rounds of knockout action (and besides, if the Cricket World Cup can last for what seemed like 17 years, I don’t see why our robo-contest can’t be strung out a bit).
Tech Digest's Robot World Cup: Round Three
Since I started this World Cup, Japanese scientists have probably invented about 76 new bots even more deadly / cool / ridiculous than the ones featured here. Ah well. No late entries or byes are permitted, even if someone creates a British TennisBot capable of winning Wimbledon. Which is frankly unlikely.
One day, robots will play in the FA Cup final…
There’s only two days to go until the FA Cup final, and an eager nation is waiting to indulge in a mass bout of schadenfreude if Chelsea lose and end the season with just the Carling Cup to show for their roubles. So far, Roman Abramovich has concentrated on splashing his cash on flesh-and-blood footballers…
Interview: Honda on the future for its Asimo robot
At the CES show this year, Honda’s humanoid Asimo robot was one of the big hits. He didn’t just walk and trot up and down stairs. He ran. He played football. He danced. And through it all, he cracked jokes like a Vegas pro. You can watch our videos of it here.
Naturally, Honda isn’t pumping millions of dollars into Asimo’s R&D to get a few cheap laughs. The company uses the bot in its TV ads for starters. But in the long-term, Honda wants Asimo to become a genuinely helpful companion for us humans. I talked to Stephen Keeney, North American Asimo project leader at Honda, to find out more.
Top 10 future jobs for Honda's Asimo robot
Honda’s Asimo robot is living the high life right now. Not only is he wowing the crowds at consumer technology shows, but he’s also the star of several Honda TV adverts. But what if it all goes wrong? What if Honda dumps Asimo the way Sony ditched its QRIO humanoid robot when it decided to shift its R&D budget elsewhere?
