Honda's celebrity robot shifting to real-life job

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2005

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's celebrity robot, ASIMO, shifted from curiosity value to practical use with the world's first walking humanoid set to make its office debut next year as a receptionist.

The latest ASIMO prototype unveiled in Tokyo can guide guests to a meeting room, serve coffee on a tray and push a cart with a load of up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds), its creator Honda Motor said.

The cutting-edge robot, which resembles a child in a white astronaut suit, has doubled its running speed to six kilometers (3.7 miles) per hour and can now run in a circle and zigzag.

"The level of ASIMO's capability was just good enough to entertain people on the stage in the past, but the new ASIMO can work at places closer to us," said Satoshi Shigemi, a Honda official in...