Honda Asimo takes a nasty fall
By Ryan Block 
posted Dec 11th 2006 2:12PM
posted Dec 11th 2006 2:12PM
[Via Pink Tentacle]
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OH MAN! It should have used an elevator. LOL!!!!!!!
"All your base are belong to us, unless it has stairs."
poor thing :(
I for one welcome our diagonally challenged descendant of our robot overlords.
why do they even bother with bipedal robots? It's highly inneficient. Just because we humans have two legs and stand upright doesn't mean we are the best movers (physically) in the animal kingdom.
Am i the only one feeling sadness? Would you laugh if an Aibo was hit by a car?
You have no idea how hard I would laugh, Grizz.
Yes... yes I would.
I would laugh if he were hit by one of those self-parking Toyotas, that's comedy gold right there.
id feel quite sad actually.. i am interested in the advances technology has made, and im looking forward to the day wen its like these robots are jumping straight out of the asimov books
i do feel sorry for it, because it probably doesnt fully understand, and its so inocent, pure and most likely naive... its so cute!
HELLS YEAH
No, you are not the only one.
Yea it definitely looks like a part failure in the right knee. Asimo is impressive but I have to wonder why they are working so hard at making robots walk naturally when there are much more efficient modes of transportation
why teach robots to walk? Because our entire infrastructure is designed for bipedal locomotion. If the ultimate hope is to have robots moving around our community and supporting humans then they will need to be able to walk. Now, if we were truly 100% ADA wheelchair compliant then a r2d2 (without the farkin jets - lucas is a tool) style robot would be far more simple and more practical.
it's supposed to help the elderly (while in bed), think of it as a helper/house keeper
This just shows how complicated walking is. We do it unconsciously, but we have such a hard time trying to get a robot to mimic it. It's not just all mechanical movement too, it's lots of counter-balancing involved, and that's where the fun starts when you try to program a robot to do it.
(turns head) "Right now, I'm using the sensors inside me to climb the stairs."
(falls) "Everyone, you probably can't catch up to me huh"
LOL... people were laughing too when it said that. Anyway, I agree it looks like a part failure on its right knee. I've seen videos of it years ago climbing up and down stairs. It can balance itself very well, even if you try to push it down, it will move its legs to count-balance your pushing!!
are you sure? i saw the video twice, and the second time around, it looked to be a slip (someone trying to ruin ASIMO's reputation?), honda was lying to us when they said ASIMO is very durable
it's sad to see robots that stupid (when it comes to sensing failures)
Well you know what happens when a horse falls over and they bring out the screens and the vet comes over... with his gun...
The kiddies don't want to see that part of the circle of life.
Man behind screen - "Oh sweet tuna sashimi! Asimo! NOOOOOO!"
Other man behind screen - "It's okay Hiroshi, it's just a BSOD and a broken visor."
Like Honda would be stupid enough to run Windoze in a next-gen robot!
Awww, poor Asimo. I actually saw him in Japan ... I guess I'm the only one, but I think he's cute. :-)
I still wanna know what's up with the privacy barrier.
Been there, but haven't done that fortunately. Kinda like when I'm walking upstairs and my trick knee gives out. Though I do have the sense to generally be holding a handrail . . .
Asimo had ONE weakness!
I knew this would happen. I've seen Robocop a few of times.
i saw Asimo at Disneyland this last Summer. he kicked a soccer ball, thats about it...
Rotfl. It's too funny also for how they cover the "dead body". The robot is anyway impressive I think it felt for a part failure in the right leg.
http://funnyvideos.canbeseenhere.com
Ok its year end and it's like this...
Funniest Engadget posts of 2006
1. The robot that mistook a person for bacon
2. Asimo falling down the stairs
3. Ryan Blocks photo comments when opening the Xbox HD DVD player
I don't know if anyone else ahs already mentioned it, but in Futurama, Bender also had problems getting up... so i bet the problem won't get fixed after the year 3000 lol
It didn't even react, how sad!
Bringing out the blinds after he took a fall reminded me of horse racing.
I was waiting for the gunshot to put it out of it's misery.
They could really save face at the next showing by having it freeze up at the exact same moment, intentionally duplicating the fall (even smashing the face again), only to have Asimo pop back up and gesture away while saying "I'm OK; I'm OK. Everyone falls every now and then." to the guys seemingly rushing in "to help."
why the privacy screen?
So you could'nt see them free the midget!
I love how within 30 seconds all the lights are cut and the bring out the divider wall... that's just sad. Could have put some humour into it Honda, having the audience laugh WITH you instead of AT you.
That's like a deleted scene from a bad episode of the Outer Limits.
I blew out laughing.
50 Comments a page yet Engadget?!
Jeez...
:sigh:
so am i the only one who can't see this video? :'(
I feel his... pain? But it's a pre-2004 model (http://hthth.typepad.com/weblog/2006/12/falling_asimo_p.html), so understandable
Awww, they put the shade in place to protect the robot's dignity.
weakness = weak knees?
If it was so clever, it would put its hands out, instead of falling on its face.
To truly mimic humans (and the way we learn), Honda needs to teach its robots to fall over...
Someone photo-shop this and put Dick Clark in there instead of ASIMO, speaking of which it's almost New Year's, I wonder if they'll boot him up this year. . .
On the positive side, it finally proves that Asimo isn't just a tiny man in a plastic suit.
Muhaha, this event will be in history like armstrong's first steps on the moon.. Some day, when geriatric robot-hybrids infiltrate our all day life, we will think back to this day-_
made me laugh.
good job this asimo was a pre-2004 model, so understandably it had some bug, anyway the latest 2006 model is doing fine :)
Mind you at leased you don't have to worry about it carjacking your motor like a sony robot. :p
hahaHAHA! Guess it's time to work on a robot that can catch itself when it falls... or at least get back up! I mean just think about all the little children asking their parents "Did Asimo die?" Hilarious!
Asimo: Stairs! ...my old nemesis...
Damn, still a long long way to go before we can get 'Transformers".
LOL! No. Really. LOL!!!
And we had such high hopes for Asimo. But hey, my 90 y/o grandmother walked up stairs better than that. So much for millions of dollars of R&D. I guess sometimes you don't get what you pay for. And they thought robots would take over the world.
When they get human-sized robots to successfully do things like gymnastics, acrobatic motorcycle stunts, and flying airplanes 95% of the time, let me know. Until then, I think this video safely represents why robot-kind will never dominate the Earth. At least not in the next 500 years and by that time, God will have returned which will make it all moot.
Oh yeah. Now back to laughing more at this vid. LOL!