Honda's upgraded ASIMO robot is faster and smarter but still won't scare Sarah Connor.

Honda's been working on its ASIMO robot for the better part of two decades, but only now is it finally beginning to look like a useful project. The latest version of the droid, similar to the one we saw two years ago, comes with a raft of physical improvements, including new legs that'll cope with uneven terrain, walk backwards and even run at speeds of nearly six miles an hour. Then there are the redesigned hands, which now have 13 degrees of freedom, enabling the 'bot to hold and manipulate objects without crushing or dropping them.

It's not just physical improvements either, since Honda has also been working hard on ASIMO's artificial intelligence. For instance, the machine can walk around without the aid of an operator, and can observe human behavior and predict the outcome. That means that if ASIMO sees someone hurtling down the corridor, it can work out that it needs to move out of the way. The droid is also capable of picking out multiple voices and faces from crowds and identifying multiple voices when they're all talking at once. Even more impressively, however, is that the automaton can even communicate in sign language thanks, in part, to those redesigned hands. The only question that remains, of course, is if we'd take one of these over SoftBank's Pepper? We know that the rival device is nowhere near as useful, but you have to admit, it is a lot cuter.

Impressive ! Still a long way to go but it's a good start.

A long way to go before what? The goal of the developers is to create a 'helping robot'. This new robot is very nearly there. It can do all sorts of things even listen and differentiate between speech from a number of talkers at the same time: it will avoid bumping into other humans etc; will work out stuff without having to be told. Much closer now to creating a viable helping robot than maybe you realise. I could do with one as a training partner as it can run at 6 miles an hour!

Well, I'd like a housekeeper/butler and I can see huge possibilities in helping the frail of body but bright of mind - in due course

As far as technology is concerned, never say never

A long way to go before it becomes able to do anything but straightforward routine tasks. How will it cope with the unexpected? Can it undo packaging, adjust the gas so that the pan doesn't boil over. It needs quite advanced AI to cope with that sort of thing and we're nowhere near that yet. (IMO)