Asimo retires from the stage

Asimo. © Honda Motor Co.

Public Japanese TV station NKH announced that Honda has ended Asimo’s long and prestigious acting career. Since its first break in 2000 when it highlighted the Japanese maker’s technological advances, the humanoid robot experienced seven iterations (begat seven successive generations?). Its technology evolved to master two-legged mobility, running and jumping, and it has routinely demonstrated its athletic prowess in various shows and public events around the world.

Asimo’s last generation was born in 2011. In 2018, Honda switched its focus to the development of more utilitarian robots such as those that specialize in elder care and disaster relief. Nonetheless, the Japanese robot won over the public, left its mark on the collective imagination, and made humanoid robot history, just like its namesake, author Isaac Asimov. You’ll still be able to see Asimo, lifeless (if ever it were alive), in museums such as the Miraikan in Tokyo. Farewell Asimo, and thanks for everything.

⇨ IEEE Spectrum, Evan Ackerman, “Even as it retires, Asimo still manages to impress.”

2022-04-21