Honda ASIMO in photos: The pioneering humanoid robot makes more progress

Honda ASIMO is one of the most world's most advanced experiments in humanoid robots. ZDNet got a close look at ASIMO at the 2015 SAE World Congress in Detroit, Michigan on April 22-23. While ASIMO is still a long way from being a commercial product, it continues to do more and more each year and the research that has gone into it has also spawned other products as well.

One of the ways Honda uses ASIMO is to inspire students to study STEM. It's meant to show them the kinds of fun stuff they could be working on in the future.

ZDNet and TechRepublic editor Jason Hiner shook hands with ASIMO at SAE World Congress 2015 in Detroit on June 22.

The UNI-CUB is derived from the robotics research that has come out of the ASIMO project. It is designed to help people with injuries and mobility challenges to achieve full mobility.

ZDNet's Jason Hiner tried out the UNI-CUB, which moves by shifting your weight and moving our feet on the pedals.

ZDNet's Jason Hiner also tried the Honda Walk Assist device at the 2015 SAE World Congress in Detroit, Michigan.

The Honda Walk Assist Device can help people who are physically impaired from a stroke or other injuries to walk. It's an exoskeleton device that provides additional power to the legs.

The Honda Walk Assist Device also came out of the same research that went into ASIMO.

These pieces attach to the legs to help power movement where the legs have been weakened or injured. This product is actually ready to go into clinic trials and potentially come to market in the next several years.

On Tuesday night May 13 Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot brought attention to the newly established The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund for Detroit youth at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) by conducting the orchestra as it performed “The Impossible Dream” to open a special sold-out concert featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Prior to a sold-out concert by Yo-Yo Ma and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra May 13, the renowned cellist was presented with the Orchestra’s "Changing Lives through Music" Highest Achievement Award. The award was presented to Ma by DSO Music Director Designate Leonard Slatkin, American Honda Vice President Dick Szamborski, and Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot. ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, debuted its ability to conduct immediately preceding the award presentation when it led the orchestra in a short work called "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha by Mitch Leigh.

Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot joins internationally-recognized American conductor and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Director Designate Leonard Slatkin on stage prior to a special sold-out performance with Yo-Yo Ma at Orchestra Hall the evening of Tuesday, May 13, 2008. ASIMO debuted its ability to conduct when it led the orchestra in a short work called "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha by Mitch Leigh.

E0, Honda's first two-legged robot, took its first steps in 1986.

E1 was the first of Honda's second generation of robots that would achieve fast, stable walking in the human living environment.

With the walking mechanism firmly established, Honda engineers attached the legs to a body to create a humanoid robot. P1 was the first robot in Honda’s fourth generation of robots and Honda’s first humanoid robot.

P2, which debuted in 1996, was the second robot in Honda’s fourth generation of robots and the world’s first self-regulating, two-legged humanoid walking robot.

P3, completed in September 1997, was the first completely independent, two-legged humanoid walking robot. P3 stood 5’2” tall and weighed 286 pounds (130 kilograms).