What's Inside Asimo?

Honda have revealed a new networked version of ASIMO this week - it has obstacle avoidance and other new skills that bring it ever closer to being a useful companion. Elsewhere, one of ASIMO's technicians, Ekkasit Najaitrvek, is quoted as stating that the robot is 'much more than a super-computer'.

"He's a person," Najaitrvek says. "Sometimes he's like a kid. Most of the time he's my friend. "You can see when he looks at you -- you can't deny he's a person."

When I saw ASIMO at the London Science Museum in 2004 (full story here), I had a similar reaction - at one point it 'looked' right at me and I felt I was being acknowledged by a person. It was an innate, unexpected response. Why is it that ASIMO - and other robots - have this effect on us? After all, ASIMO is only at the start of its independent intelligence - it is an infant mind, more programmed than autonomous. Clearly appearance, movement and purpose add up to something greater than their individual parts - the question is, what is it that they add up to?

(originally published 16th Dec 2007)