Has anyone seen this video? It shows the Honda ASIMO fall over. It’s the only video I have seen of this happening.
Regardless of the error, humans fitted with the most powerful computer, the human brain, still falls over from time to time. I’m sure many will see this as huge oopsee, however, it’s still a major step towards a new technology that can only get better.
The fact that they had dividers on wheels handy tells me this has happened before. They were very quick to cover up the mess. I had to laugh a little. I also wonder if engineers got fired over this.
To me it seems like ASIMO lost balance because the battery died or failed. After ASIMO fell, he wasn’t moving anymore. If it wasn’t a battery problem, he should still be walking while on his side. I am also sure honda included an accelerometer to see if he fell over and to stand back up if he did… At least you can do that for a $1000 biped… Why not include it in their fancy “hitech” biped?
Still funny to watch though. I started laughing when they brought out the divider. People still saw asimo fall… Its not like the divider will make you forgot what happened.
BTW, sorry for referring to ASIMO as “he” or “him” I understand ASIMO is a robot and should be refered to as “it” since IT does not have a gender, but its just very awk to say “after it fell, it wasnt moving anymore” or “after asimo fell, asimo wasn’t moving anymre” :s
“One small step for man, one big nasty fall for ASIMO”
Actually, I fully understand that it went totally dead when it fell - probably more of a failsafe mode than anything else. A little servo-based walker can handle a simple fall, recover, and get back up. Something larger like Asimo, on the other hand, is dealing with strength-to-weight ratios that are on a completely different scale, and is much more likely to suffer structural or mechanical damage in a similar situation. It’s also designed to operate only in a standing position, I believe, and probably doesn’t have programming - possibly not even the strength or range of motion - required to handle things such as getting up off of the ground. Getting up from a seated position, as from a chair, I would expect; picking itself up off the ground, not so much.
It’s also interesting to note that Honda’s biped walkers were real knock-your-socks-off technology just a few years ago, and it was amazing that they could cross a room while detecting and avoiding obstacles. Since then, we’ve gotten so used to seeing them and other bipeds that are able to ambulate without falling (too often) that when one does fail during a demonstration, it’s not only surprising, but it makes international news.
