20070821

one small step for robot, one giant leap for robotickind


ASIMO (アシモ, ashimo) is a humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company. Standing at 130 centimeters (4 feet 3 inches) and weighing 52 kilograms (119 lbs.), the robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk on two feet at speeds up to 6 km/h (3.7 mph). ASIMO was created at Honda's Research & Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan. It is the current model in a line of eleven that began in 1986 with E0.
Officially, the name is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility". Honda's official statements indicate that the robot's name is not a reference to
science fiction writer and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics, Isaac Asimov. In Japanese, the name is pronounced ashimo and, not coincidentally, means "legs also" (from Japanese "脚も").
As of
2007, there are 46 ASIMO units in existence. Each one costs less than $1 million to manufacture, and some units are available to be hired out for $166,000 per year.

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