Asimo, short for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, first visited the Philippines in 2003. For its return engagement, a high-powered crowd, which included Japanese ambassador to the Philippines Ryuichiro Yamazaki and DoST Asisstant Secretary Carol Yorobe, greeted the humanoid robot at the grand ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Makati City.

As an ambassador of Japanese technology, Asimo "symbolizes the pinnacle of Honda innovations and a new benchmark in creative mobility," the carmaker said.

Asimo is said to be the world’s most advanced two-legged humanoid robot capable of simulating human walk. "For a robot to be fully functional in a wide range of environments, it has to simulate human mobility, foremost of which is the ability to walk," the company said.

Honda engineers began work on humanoid robot in 1986 by first mastering the principles of walking. In 2000 — after 14 years of research and development, 7 experimental models, and 3 prototype models — Asimo was "born," representing a milestone in robotics history.

Asimo is designed as a people-friendly robot that exhibits grace and balance in walking motion. The robot can walk forward and backward, climb and descend stairs, vary the pace of his stride without stopping, and make a turn without slipping or falling. It’s walking speed is 1.6 kilometers per hour (1 mile per hour), equivalent to human’s standard walking pace.

Takashi Sekiguchi, president and general manager of Honda Cars Philippines, said his company is continuously improving Asimo so that it can someday provide assistance at home especially to those who lack full mobility.

"In the future, Asimo might be able to perform certain tasks that are dangerous to human beings, thereby greatly improving human life," he said. "This is the future that Honda envisions; a future where people and robots can live in harmony, complementing each other’s strengths and capabilities."

For his part, Honda Cars Philippines marketing head Arnel Doria noted that the intelligence technology integrated in Asimo has allowed it to improve its ability to communicate with people.

Based on visual information, Asimo can now detect movements of multiple objects to assess distance and direction, allowing it to follow a person or movements of people — even greet a person when it is approached.

The robot has the ability to interpret the positioning and movement of hand to recognize common postures and gestures, so it can move to an indicated location, return a handshake, or respond to a wave by waving back.

Asimo’s ability to recognize sounds has also been improved, allowing it to face the source of sound when its name is called or when it hears sudden or unusual sounds.