Honda's Newest ASIMO Robot Makes U.S. Debut at CES

Honda's "significantly upgraded" ASIMO humanoid robot made its North American debut on a CES stage today, impressing the crowd with its ability to run, walk, climb and descend stairs, all while talking in a refreshingly polite manner.

ASIMO's predecessor has rung the bell of the New York Stock Exchange and visited hundreds of thousands of people on this continent, but Honda officials say this new version brings the humanoid robot closer to being able to help and work with people. ASIMO hopped on one foot, climbed and descended stairs, danced, and ran in a circle (it can run 4K an hour) in its first trip from Japan to North America.

Honda execs said they believe humanoid robots like ASIMO will give a new kind of mobility to those who don't have it. ASIMO is being designed to work well in homes, to move vicariously for people with limited abilities, and help with chores and other errands they cannot do. One day, it may help put out fires or clean up toxic spills dangerous to people. Engineers continue to work on ways to make sure ASIMO won't run over the family pet and crawling babies. Already, it can detect when someone or something in its way and it will stop. Engineers are perfecting how ASIMO maneuvers around impediments.

But today ASIMO was just plain fun to watch as it smoothly maneuvered the stage and motioned with its arms in ways as close to a human as a robot can probably get. We've heard robots are coming to our homes for decades it seems, but Honda says ASIMO will be helping people within 10 years.

Here are some other ASIMO fun facts:

• It's child-size, about 4-foot-3-inches tall, weighing 119 pounds. That's so it is eye level with people in wheelchairs and beds and won't intimidate humans of all ages.

• ASIMO runs for about an hour on a removable 51.8v lithium-ion battery, which, when run completely down, takes four hours to recharge. Honda is working on replacing the battery with fuel cell technology.

• Pull on ASIMO and it moves forward; push, it moves back. The robot can handle a 30-degree incline.

• The equivalent of five top-end personal computers allow ASIMO to do its thing.

• ASIMO is an acronym for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, and American Honda assistant vice president Jeffrey Smith says it is designed to be "undeniably and intentionally cute."