During
a youth science event at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
(AKA Miraikan) in Tokyo, Japan, President Barack Obama was introduced to ASIMO,
Honda’s humanoid robot. For those of you who don’t know, ASIMO is an acronym
for Advanced Step in Innovative MObility. For 14 years now, Honda has been
developing and enhancing ASIMO’s capabilities of interacting with its physical
surroundings. ASIMO has improved so much since its inception; it can now walk
up stairs, pour and serve a cup of juice, run, recognize faces, and talk.
President
Obama also saw a demonstration of Atlas,
DARPA’s (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) creation of a humanoid robot
designed to save lives from the rubble of natural disasters. As advances are
being made in robotics, the technology that are fueling these parts are being
widely utilized in other aspects of innovation; driver-less cars, wearable
devices, drones, and more. People are becoming increasingly more optimistic
about the future of high tech.
“…Obama professed his belief in the importance
of science and math programs, telling students they ‘have more technology and
more power than even the greatest innovators of previous generations, so there
is no limit to what [they] can achieve,’ he said" (President
Obama Plays Soccer with ASIMO the Robot). The power of technology gives
future generations the ability improve innovations and create things that we
never thought possible. What do you think the next capabilities for ASIMO are
going to be? What would you like a humanoid robot to be able to do?
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