TORONTO, Ontario — Honda’s four-foot robot, ASIMO, has been around since 2000, and last visited Canada four years ago, but not since it has been updated with another round of advancements.
A 2011 Canadian tour was initiated to allow ASIMO to showcase its new talents, and to help publicize Honda Canada’s 25th anniversary of Canadian vehicle production, at its facilities in Alliston, Ontario .
ASIMO’s first tour stop was on May 13, at the Ontario Science Centre (in Toronto), in front of a very appreciate audience of students. The students were at the Centre to participate in FIRST Lego League and FIRST Robotics Canada competitions.
Honda Canada Executive Vice President, Jerry Chenkin, had the honours of introducing ASIMO to his fans. They politely heard Chenkin explain how ASIMO fits into Honda’s overall mission of being a “human mobility company”.
He explained that most people know Honda can move people via its cars, trucks and motorcycles, and the new HondaJet too, but that the ASIMO robot is all about assisting people with mobility challenges.
Basically, if you can’t get to the fridge yourself, to access that jar of pickles (or something else), a future version of ASIMO just might be your best bet.
When ASIMO and his presenter hit the stage, the crowd was pumped. And ASIMO delivered — by talking in its androgynous, young-person's voice, by walking up and down steps, by balancing on one foot, and by running around the stage.
After the “performance”, ASIMO was joined on stage by Eric Wedin, project leader of the ASIMO team, to take some questions from the students, and one of the first questions went right to the heart of the matter: “How much money has Honda spent on ASIMO?”.
“ASIMO is a priceless piece of R&D technology,” was Wedin’s reply.
Via other student questions, we learned that there are four ASIMOs (two stay at Disneyland, two hit the road), that ASIMO has 34 servo motors, that a technician controls ASIMO by laptop computer, that ASIMO needed to learn today’s performance, and that ASIMO is not designed to be a replacement for people, but a helper of people.
A 2011 Canadian tour was initiated to allow ASIMO to showcase its new talents, and to help publicize Honda Canada’s 25th anniversary of Canadian vehicle production, at its facilities in Alliston, Ontario .
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| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |
ASIMO’s first tour stop was on May 13, at the Ontario Science Centre (in Toronto), in front of a very appreciate audience of students. The students were at the Centre to participate in FIRST Lego League and FIRST Robotics Canada competitions.
Honda Canada Executive Vice President, Jerry Chenkin, had the honours of introducing ASIMO to his fans. They politely heard Chenkin explain how ASIMO fits into Honda’s overall mission of being a “human mobility company”.
He explained that most people know Honda can move people via its cars, trucks and motorcycles, and the new HondaJet too, but that the ASIMO robot is all about assisting people with mobility challenges.
Basically, if you can’t get to the fridge yourself, to access that jar of pickles (or something else), a future version of ASIMO just might be your best bet.
When ASIMO and his presenter hit the stage, the crowd was pumped. And ASIMO delivered — by talking in its androgynous, young-person's voice, by walking up and down steps, by balancing on one foot, and by running around the stage.
After the “performance”, ASIMO was joined on stage by Eric Wedin, project leader of the ASIMO team, to take some questions from the students, and one of the first questions went right to the heart of the matter: “How much money has Honda spent on ASIMO?”.
“ASIMO is a priceless piece of R&D technology,” was Wedin’s reply.
Via other student questions, we learned that there are four ASIMOs (two stay at Disneyland, two hit the road), that ASIMO has 34 servo motors, that a technician controls ASIMO by laptop computer, that ASIMO needed to learn today’s performance, and that ASIMO is not designed to be a replacement for people, but a helper of people.
| |
| Photo: Mike Goetz/Auto123.com |