Honda claims it will verify the value of ASIMO as a robot that can autonomously explain things to people through a variety of pre-loaded explanations.
Honda Motor will use its ASIMO robot to interact with museum visitors in Japan and explain its own workings. The demonstration of ASIMO, first introduced in November 2011, will highlight the world’s first autonomous behavior control technology.
This now allows ASIMO to make decisions required to behave in concert with the movements of surrounding people and to continue moving without being controlled by an operator.
The next step toward what will most assuredly become real world applications for Asimo will take place at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation – aka Miraikan – in Tokyo, Japan during July.
Star Wars’ R2-D2 was, arguably, cuter, but Honda’s Asimo is real and headed for production.
In this demonstration, ASIMO will autonomously explain its own features to guests visiting Miraikan. ASIMO will communicate interactively by asking people questions they can respond to by a show of hands, then explaining itself in what is claimed to be an easy-to-understand manner including gestures.
ASIMO can recognize the reactions of several dozen people using a network of sensors. Based on the recognition of people’s reactions, ASIMO autonomously determines how to respond by making continuous judgments on its own, requiring no sequential commands from an operator. While this is an excellent p.r. stunt, it is also serious research work in progress.
Through this demonstration testing, Honda claims it will verify the value of ASIMO as a robot that can autonomously explain things to people through a variety of pre-loaded explanations. Honda will gather data related to ASIMO’s interactive communication with people in real-world conditions, where the actions of people and the surrounding environment are continuously changing. Honda will use the experience to refine future R&D activities.
Honda is continuing its development of the humanoid robot in two directions: as a “communication robot” that coexists with and assists people, and as a “working robot,” which performs tasks on behalf of people in environments that are not accessible to people.
