When kids had a date with humanoid robot at 10th Auto Expo

New Delhi, Jan 8(ANI): A group of underprivileged children at the ongoing Auto Expo show here at Pragati Maidan on Friday were thrilled to see a robot, which could walk independently and climb stairs, understand gestures, follow commands, and recognise voices

Honda Siel Cars India Limited chose to unveil ASIMO, the humanoid robot, before a gathering of underprivileged children.

Developed and designed by Honda's Research and Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Centre in Japan, ASIMO which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, is the first humanoid robot in the world that can walk independently and climb stairs.

During ASIMO's demonstration, it was shown to the kids how the robot understands pre-programmed gestures and spoken commands, recognises voices and also faces and interface with IC Communication cards.

Children were thrilled to watch the live performance of ASIMO's AI (artificial intelligence).

"I will become an engineer after finishing my studies and will design the car of my theme," said Vaibhav, a visitor.

On their part, senior executives of Honda Siel India said that they tried to understand these children from a completely different world.

"We have shown the children a completely different world, a new world and we are really happy to this for them. I think the entire team has also worked hard and the children were really good. I was so happy they are so talented, just see the types of drawings they made, they are absolutely fantastic," said Anita Sharma, Head, Corporate Communications, Honda Siel Cars India Limited.

Honda Siel Cars India is a joint venture between Japan's Honda and India's Siel. It expects sales to rise by as much as 27 percent in the fiscal year to March driven by improved consumer sentiment.

The company expects to sell 60,000 to 70,000 cars in 2009-10, up from about 55,000 a year ago, said Jnaneswar Sen, Head of Marketing of Honda Siel Cars India. By Uphar Pandey (ANI)