OREANDA-NEWS. In front of a crowd of gathered media, the All-New ASIMO made its European debut this week in Brussels, Belgium.

The All-New ASIMO, which Honda hopes in the future will able to help people in need, incorporates several significant advancements over its predecessors. These include improved intelligence, enhanced hand dexterity (enabling it to open a bottle and pour a drink or express sign language), as well as the ability to run faster, run backwards, climb and descend stairs more smoothly, hop and even jump.

The advancements take Honda another step closer to creating a robot for practical use in the home environment, or wherever assistance is required.

Also making its European debut at the event was the UNI-CUB (beta), a new personal mobility device that features Honda's omni-directional driving wheel system and utilises balance control technology amassed from Honda's extensive research into bipedal humanoid robots.

ASIMO was first introduced to Europe in 2003 at a scientific symposium entitled "From High Tech to Intelligence - The Challenge of Humanoid Robots" held at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Since then, ASIMO has travelled throughout Europe with a tour which has included many prestigious scientific and robotics events.  It is also used extensively to inspire young people about science and engineering, attending events such as the Science Picnic in Warsaw, the world's largest public outdoor science event, and the Greenlight for Girls event in Brussels, to inspire young women to consider a future in maths, science, technology and engineering.

The All-New ASIMO and the UNI-Cub (beta) made their European debuts at a press conference held at the ASIMO Studio in Brussels, Belgium. The ASIMO Studio is the home of Honda Robotics communications in Europe.