Gadgetory

in the future robots can serve you a cup of tea while hopping on one foot I'm Bridget Carey and this is your CNET update the International Auto Show is in New York and car makers are flaunting more than vehicles Honda demonstrated the new moves for ASIMO it's the humanoid robot that was first introduced to the world nearly 14 years ago our little buddy is a little more smooth these days he can seamlessly transition from walking to running and approach stairs and climb with little delay now that he's a teenager it seems that he's taken a liking to kicking around a soccer ball and getting it airborne he's also mastered hopping on one foot and keeping his balance while doing so Honda engineers also showed off awesome OHS hand dexterity and how he can communicate in both American and Japanese sign language he's also been practicing his serving skills able to unscrew the top of a thermos and pour juice into a paper cup ASIMO is designed to be cute so you don't fear a future robot uprising behind his tinted face shield there's a little smile edged into his plastic head he's not too tall to intimidate you and he's programmed with friendly gestures he even has a pretty good handshake awesome Ozen goal is to be a robot that could assist people in the home also know someday in the future can be the arms eyes hands and legs for all kinds of people in need elderly people or people who have learned in mobility will really be helped that may remind you of the 2012 movie robot and Frank where a robot is a living assistant for a man with dementia but there's still a long way to go before awesomo is at that level everything in our demo was pre-programmed awesomo had to learn the layout of the stage before his performance and when it comes to communication skills we didn't get to see how he responds to voice commands awesome most chief engineer explained that back in Japan the robot is able to understand when different people ask for different drinks to be served distinguishing between faces and voices he also smart enough to not listen to strangers but how long will it be until ASIMO can understand our natural speech just like the technology in our smartphones well ASIMO ever hook up with Siri or Cortana I'll suppose in it it's not going to hook up with anybody okay so awesomo doesn't have a date yet with a sassy smartphone voice but for its next trick engineers wants to train ASIMO to be able to walk alongside a human and match their speed or learn to carry something for a human in the meantime he's not too shabby of a dance partner that's your tech news update head to cnet.com to follow more news from the New York International Auto Show I'm Bridget Carey thanks for watching