I have to admit that – for the longest time – I was convinced that the name Asimo for a cute Japanese robot was related to the name of Isaac Asimov. Like Asimo[v].

It was a minor shock to me when I found that the name of Honda’s little robot is just an abbreviation for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility – a bit of an awkward name for such an important project.

Asimo past, present, and future – Blackboxparadox.com

Asimo was introduced in 2000 and was basically designed to be a multi-functional mobile assistant.  One of the reasons for having this “assistant” is to help the aging Japanese population feel comfortable.  According to Wikipedia, Japan is considered to have the highest proportion of elderly citizens, with over 33.0% of the Japanese population being above age 60.

Asimo has evolved a lot since the time when its first test prototype was introduced in 1986. If you are interested in this subject, you can find more details here.

I haven’t seen too many recent updates about Asimo besides the “falling Asimo” video:

Some people made fun of it but I think that is silly. Asimo is not unique at “making mistakes.” As all robots (and all humans, for that matter), it has to fall many times before it learns how to walk:

I like this little robot Asimo and want it to keep evolving fast!