Japan’s Honda Motor Co
unveiled a new, smarter version of its ASIMO celebrity humanoid robot.
The walking robots’ new skills will allow them to work
together in an office environment, the automaker said.
The original
ASIMO, born in 2000, has danced and dined with dignitaries and business leaders
at home and overseas, serving as a symbol of Japanese technological
wizardry.
Makers of robots see big potential for their use in Japan,
where the number of elderly people is rapidly growing causing labour shortages
in a country that strictly controls immigration.
Two walking ASIMO
humanoids showed off their new skills by pushing a cart, carrying cups of tea
and serving drinks to people.
They also displayed new social graces
when a human approached in a hallway by stepping aside to let him
pass.
The new, improved ASIMO also returns to a battery charging unit
when it detects its power is running low.
If one ASIMO is recharging,
other robots will step in and take over its tasks.
Toyota said last
week that it aims to put robots capable of assisting humans into use by the
early 2010s as it unveiled a robot that can play the violin.
Via Times of India
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