Honda Reportedly Planning Disaster-Recovery Upgrades for ASIMO

asimo

Honda may be planning some upgrades that will allow its renowned ASIMO robot to tackle disaster recovery. From IEEE Spectrum:

Following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, Honda reportedly received numerous requests to send its humanoid robot ASIMO to help with the recovery. ASIMO, however, wasn’t designed to work outside a lab or office environment, let alone a highly radioactive rubble-strewn zone. Now it looks like Honda is working to address the problem by developing a bigger, beefed-up version of ASIMO that can walk, crawl, and perform tasks in a disaster environment.

After the Fukushima accident, many observers were surprised that Japan, a country known for its advanced robots, wasn’t better prepared and had to rely on U.S. robots instead. In the months that followed, Japanese government agencies and companies got to work to develop capable disaster-response robots. Honda, in particular, developed a tracked vehicle called High-Access Survey Robot, in collaboration with Japanese R&D lab AIST. But it seems the company has something even more interesting in the works.

In a documentary titled “Robot Revolution” that aired earlier this year, Japan’s broadcasting company NHK got the inside scoop that Honda is developing a new humanoid specifically for disaster response. From the footage, which shows the robot only as a computer rendering, it appears that the new humanoid will be able to negotiate the wreckage inside a reactor building and operate things like water valves.


Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.