Honda’s humanoid robot introduced in 2000 was named ASIMO.
Honda unveiled ASIMO on 31 October 2000 after more than a decade of research into bipedal walking. The name is commonly expanded as Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, although Honda presented it primarily as a product name. ASIMO was designed to move through human environments and interact with people.
Later versions could walk, run, climb stairs, recognize faces and gestures, and respond to spoken commands. Its development helped Honda study balance, locomotion, and assistive technologies, even though ASIMO was not sold as a mass-market household robot.
ASIMO is often mixed up with Sony’s QRIO, another well-known humanoid robot from Japan. QRIO was a Sony research and entertainment project, while ASIMO was developed by Honda and became especially associated with public demonstrations.