Campbell: Honda takes technology one step closer with Asimo

Honda is steadily developing its Asimo robot into a smooth-moving humanoid.

It looks… Honda is steadily developing its Asimo robot into a smooth-moving humanoid.

It looks similar to an astronaut in that it appears to wear a spacesuit. Behind its visor are various pieces of equipment for visualizing the world around it, and it is capable of climbing stairs while staying bipedal.

Most importantly, Asimo can deliver coffee to an ever-lazy American public.

Unfortunately, the Asimo is not overly useful if a human cannot talk to it. Interface technology has consistently been lacking. Anyone who played with Apple’s suite of voice recognition software can remember the hilarious misinterpretations voice recognition software can sometimes come up with.

Honda has, of course, thought of this and has been working for some time on a way to directly control a robot without the annoying go-between of keyboards, mice or voice.

No, Honda’s solution wasn’t a fancy touch screen or a dashboard with the speedometer awkwardly placed in the center. The solution Honda has come up with is to interpret brain wave signals.

Users of the new system, approximately 90 percent of the time, can think about a movement and have it mimicked by Asimo. The tests Honda have performed are somewhat limited.

One cannot think of filling out a tax return and find that Asimo is his new accountant. The fruit of thought is there, however, as this technology could yield great benefits for the world as a whole.

Think about a future where humans can directly control computers that in turn control robotic arms and robotic limbs. Those who no longer have use of their biological limbs can enjoy close-to-human dexterity that feels, with some practice, just as comfortable as moving the real thing.

So how does this system work, you ask? You thought that the human brain was essentially a mystery. Luckily, when a problem is broken down into very simple, distinguishable concepts, the brain’s function as a whole can be recorded and recognized.

Take, for example, two movements: Move a leg and move an arm. The two movements take quite starkly different thoughts and therefore can be easily recognized when the brain is scanned.

Thinking about moving an arm creates electrical impulses in easily identifiable locations of the brain. The identifying capabilities of the computer also increase when the human is able to practice and concentrate more specifically on the required movement.

If a computer observes the brain activity of a specific person thinking about the same time over a long period of time, the computer can also become relatively good at recognizing thoughts.

This approach, while good at this initial stage of computer development, might become obsolete as robotic movements become more complicated and less able to be distinguished.

This obsolescence, however, will more than likely not occur for quite some time — Honda is safe for now. And, armed with its initial success, Honda is undoubtedly looking to the future to develop even more intelligent algorithms for brain wave detection.

Do not get too excited, however. The technology is still rather cumbersome.A video posted on ITWorld.com displays the machine as a huge computer attached to a large chair, where the human test subject sits and is held in place with a large ‘- rather silly looking ‘- head piece.

Most people will prefer to use a keyboard and mouse rather than type e-mails while looking like Davros from ‘Doctor Who.’

Will this technology become commercially available anytime soon? Probably not. Perhaps Honda will try to incorporate the fascinating new technology into their cars; the helmet-like apparatus might make Civics look a bit more normal.

But that’s OK. Give it a good amount of time, and the technology that Honda is championing will become more and more common, affordable and, most importantly, advanced.’