Video: Asimo's North American trade show debut

The last time we saw Asimo, it was falling down stairs. Call us sadists, but we went to Honda's press conference hoping we'd see a repeat performance from the biped. Unfortunately for us, the three-foot tall humanoid robot didn't fall over, but instead ran across stage, ran in circles and even made it up the stairs. Watch Asimo's North American trade show debut above, or download, or download below the full 13:51 movie.

[MP4] Download the movie (82.5 MB)

[Esat @ Jan 10th 2007 11:08AM]

TOTALLY the wrong voice for it.

[some person @ Jan 11th 2007 1:28PM]

you must be used to the japanese ASIMO...

[Qweltol @ Jan 10th 2007 11:18AM]

Are we SURE Kenny Baker isn't inside that thing?

[fraggle_rocker @ Jan 10th 2007 11:31AM]

i thought it sounded a bit like Alphonse Elric, which is the ultimate voice!

[Geoff @ Jan 10th 2007 11:31AM]

So it turns out I'm not the worst dancer in the world, thanks Asimo!

[justin @ Jan 10th 2007 11:36AM]

asimo rocks.. i can't wait to have one.. no more cutting the grass, or getting up for a beer, hell i bet it can even wash me

[Javaflash @ Jan 10th 2007 11:40AM]

I wonder about how imitating humanoid body equate to a sound robotic design. Our body is NOT optimized for efficiency when it comes to running and walking. Putting two more legs into this machine will open a whole new level of speed, capacity, and stability, cheaply. So, why not? In my opinion, this is a technical exercise that bears little fruits for real world application... more of a science fiction novelty that we can't get over.

[WedgeTalon @ Jan 10th 2007 11:49AM]

Javaflash - It's past te year 2000 and I STILL don't have my dang flying cars! At least let me have my humanoid robot! >:(

[Jeremy Roush @ Jan 10th 2007 11:57AM]

Asimo has been performing four shows daily in Disneyland for a couple of years now. Here are some shots of him from last May: http://jeremedia.com/photography/disneyland_may_2006

He really is quite amazing to see in person. Highly recommended. It feels like a very high-end magic trick.

[Brenden @ Jan 10th 2007 12:00PM]

North American debut? I saw ASMINO at Disneyland...last year.

[Brenden @ Jan 10th 2007 12:01PM]

*ASIMO

[jedi2day @ Jan 10th 2007 12:05PM]

Hear, hear...North American debut? Saw Asimo at Disneyland last year as well...

[Randall Bennett @ Jan 10th 2007 12:02PM]

Updated the title to reflect trade show.

Thanks!

[Dan @ Jan 10th 2007 12:04PM]

Can someone please photoshop a Storm Trooper head on this thing?

[some person @ Jan 11th 2007 1:38PM]

north american TRADE SHOW debut, but your right, ASIMO even said so itself that it's great to be back (or something like that)

[Scott Culp @ Jan 10th 2007 12:15PM]

Cool, but it is clear to me that they need to spraypaint this bad boy. As the saying goes, "white guys can't dance."

[Zombie @ Jan 10th 2007 12:18PM]

Well, I agree that for sheer speed a quadruped would generally be found superior to bipeds. (Then again, there are is a far wider selection of quadrupedal animals than bipedal).

That being said bipedal creatures tend to be far, far more versatile - which is generally a more valuable characteristic.

[SideSwipe @ Jan 10th 2007 12:18PM]

Another "debut?" question - they even say it was at CES LAST year...?

[Scientist @ Jan 10th 2007 12:26PM]

I for one welcome our asimo,robot-helping overlords!

[LittleJoe @ Jan 10th 2007 12:27PM]

Jazz Hands!!!

[kchang1 @ Jan 10th 2007 12:35PM]

Asimo or Arsimo can out dance you white guys out there and dance stars around you 2 feeted left footer out there. (I'm not white).

[dov @ Jan 10th 2007 12:41PM]

it moves like it just s#!t in it's pants.. lol..

[Chuckles McGee @ Jan 10th 2007 12:54PM]

So it's pronounced "awesome-o" instead of "as-i-mo". mmm.

I disagree with Javaflash. The point is not to make a robot that's incredibly fast or efficient (just stick some AI in a Ferrari for that), but something that can easily interact with humanoid equipment, such as stairs, vehicles or whatever. The tasks Asimo is designed for require more dexterity than real speed anyway. Asimo isn't going to be useful as a marathon runner, it's useful as a butler, maid, chef, gardener and nurse.

[kert @ Jan 10th 2007 1:12PM]

Why wait for an Asimo if you can buy a $1000 humanoid kit and program it yourself ? say, Bioloid or KHR or Manoi any of them , from robosavvy,com for instance.

[Ray-- @ Jan 10th 2007 1:16PM]

I made my own humanoid with the help of another human and it was able to perform all of these functions within 2 years.... took honda 2 decades... sheesh

[some person @ Jan 11th 2007 1:34PM]

people are just slow

[Don Madden @ Jan 10th 2007 2:06PM]

Yep, he was most certainly at CES last year.

[Jeff @ Jan 10th 2007 2:27PM]

I think the next place this guy will be "unveiled" is going to be Iraq. By then he will have been fitted with twin FN-P90's, an M249, an M203, IED countermeasures, Arabic language translation software, and there will be 1 million of them.

[blp2021 @ Jan 10th 2007 2:29PM]

Maybe its just me, but the cheese factor of the presentation makes me cringe.

[Fallers @ Jan 10th 2007 4:19PM]

R2D2 is better

[Paul @ Jan 10th 2007 4:26PM]

I keep telling my wife... "Machines are going to take over the world". Matrix and Terminator style! Maybe not in our life time but... it's going down eventually.

[SirLoin @ Jan 10th 2007 4:51PM]

"You can tell AWESOME-O all your secrets." - Cartman

[Sirloin @ Jan 10th 2007 5:06PM]

Sweet!! Now I can fire my illegal workers and have asimo do thier jobs and not have my things stolen.

[Andrew H. @ Jan 10th 2007 5:39PM]

chief knockahomer cud kick asimo's ass

[zack_s_moore @ Jan 10th 2007 6:42PM]

i thought surely it was going to do 'the robot' when it started dancing.

[Jon @ Jan 10th 2007 8:04PM]

Worst. Music. Evar.

[tommmio @ Jan 11th 2007 2:33AM]

NA debut?? I have video of him from CES 2006. Might wanna correct that title there.

[some person @ Jan 11th 2007 1:34PM]

yeah, i noticed that too

[Dave's Football Blog @ Jan 11th 2007 12:51PM]

Well, now we know where Daunte Culpepper got all his touchdown celebrations.