Australian PM And Honda’s Asimo Snaps Selfie

While robots in this day and age have not quite achieved the kind of sentient level that science fiction movies love to portray, this does not mean that there has been no progress in the robotics department. Honda’s Asimo, for instance, has improved by leaps and bounds over the years, and most recently had a selfie snapped alongside Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

PM Malcolm Turnbull informed an audience in the Land of the Rising Sun that Australia inspired by Japan’s commitment to technological advancement. Mr Turnbull is there as he has a meeting scheduled with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for informal talks, and he dropped by the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, with a greeting by Honda’s Asimo along the way.

In fact, Mr. Turnbull mentioned that Asimo is the “first robot I’ve taken a selfie with”, and further reiterated that Japanese robotic technology currently sees action in Australia. Mr. Turnbull remarked, “At a lunch recently, I sat next to the head of Rio Tinto’s iron ore division, Andrew Harding. He told me how his company had been working with Komatsu to build the world’s largest fleet of autonomous trucks. The navigation systems on those trucks are so precise that they are outperforming their conventional manned counterparts by 12 per cent. A strong Japan is good for our region as is a strong Australia. There has never been a better time to be investing in the friendship between Australia and Japan.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: asimo, honda, selfie