At Honda, we have always considered ourselves to be a mobility company. We started out with motorcycles, because that was the quickest way to help people get around. But as we grew, we focused on creating new dreams for our customers, and harnessing advanced technology to provide new and better mobility for people.

That passion has led us to ASIMO, one of the world's most sophisticated humanoid robots. ASIMO was created specifically to help make people's lives easier. Building ASIMO was an incredible challenge for Honda engineers, and the result of years of research in many scientific fields.

ASIMO has recently advanced from an "automatic machine" to an "autonomous machine," which means it now has decision-making capabilities that allow it to adjust to its environment. Remarkable new technology in the areas of intelligence capacity, physical capability and task-performing capability allow ASIMO to be programmed to:

• Recognize a face and a voice simultaneously
• Recognize the voices of multiple people who are talking at the same time
• Predict the direction a person will walk within the next few seconds, helping it to avoid a collision
• Change its behavior to accommodate the intention of people with whom it's interacting
• Run forward and backward, and hop on one or two legs continuously

In addition, Honda has developed a highly functional compact multi-fingered hand, which enables ASIMO to perform such tasks as picking up a glass bottle and twisting off the cap, and holding a soft paper cup to pour a liquid without squishing it. ASIMO can even make sign language expressions that require complex finger movement.

With the capability to navigate and operate in our world, Honda's intention is that ASIMO will be able to perform tasks to assist people who are lacking in full mobility. It is hoped ASIMO will serve as another set of eyes, ears, hands and legs for people in need, and will provide them with a new sense of independence in their everyday lives.

Learn more about ASIMO.