• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
  • Advertise
    • Advertising
    • Case studies
    • Design
    • Email marketing
    • Features list
    • Lead generation
    • Magazine
    • Press releases
    • Publishing
    • Sponsor an article
    • Webcasting
    • Webinars
    • White papers
    • Writing
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Editorial Sections A-Z
    • Agriculture
    • Aircraft
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Automation
    • Autonomous Vehicles
    • Business
    • Computing
    • Construction
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Drones
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial robots
    • Industry
    • Infrastructure
    • Investments
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Marine
    • Material handling
    • Materials
    • Mining
    • Promoted
    • Research
    • Robotics
    • Science
    • Sensors
    • Service robots
    • Software
    • Space
    • Technology
    • Transportation
    • Warehouse robots
    • Wearables
  • Press releases
  • Events
asimo on stage

Briefing – Products and Markets: Humanoid robots struggle to find a place in today’s society

July 2, 2018 by Sam Francis

Humanoids are probably the type of robots that the general public finds most fascinating. 

Yes, industrial robotic arms have their own attractions – the way they move so precisely and can work endlessly – but humanoids, for obvious reasons, possess the ultimate allure.

And if they take the form of your favourite person in the world – perhaps that film star you’ve had a crush on all your life – well, you’re practically in heaven. 

But that’s not really the way things are working out. Humanoids are apparently struggling to find a place in today’s market.

Honda has become the latest company to pull the plug on its humanoid venture, Asimo. Nikkei, which first published the story, says Honda could see “no payday on the horizon”, meaning, of course, the company could not see itself making money from it.

Exactly why Honda started the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility project is unclear – other than to learn about robotics technology.

The idea of making money with it may have occurred to Honda, and the styling of Asimo – with spacesuit and helmet – was probably meant to attract the aerospace market.

But just today, media reports suggest that Honda is stopping development of Asimo in favour of other technologies which have clearly-defined and revenue-generating markets – the Hondajet aircraft, sensors, new type of battery technologies, exoskeletons and so on.

Anything but humanoid robots basically.

Alphabet, which owned Boston Dynamics, came to a similar conclusion a couple of years ago.

The company which owns Google, a vast revenue-generating enterprise, could not see where the money was going to come from in humanoid robots.

So, despite the amazing technical achievements Boston Dynamics made in the development of its humanoid and canine robots, Alphabet sold the division off to SoftBank Robotics.

If Alphabet can’t do it, and if Honda can’t do it, It’s difficult to see anyone being able to make money from humanoids.

The problem is obvious: humanoids are immensely complex machines, even if they attempt to mimic even one small portion of what a real human does.

Honda concentrated on walking, climbing stairs and so on. Boston Dynamics seemed to have got the balance thing down.

But the average member of the general public expects a lot more than that from the average humanoid.

The average person has probably seen hundreds of perfectly well-functioning robots depicted in films which can not only walk without falling over, they can talk and do all sorts of things that a real human can do – if anything, the robot in the film can do things even better than real humans can.

One may argue that this leads to people having unrealistic expectations of the humanoids currently being developed by many talented, highly motivated, and reasonably well-funded roboticists who are developing these machines.

And those unrealistic expectations are not even close to being met at the moment.

Yes, some small aspect of a humanoid can creep people out because it is so realistic – opening doors, smiling or whatever – but these things, in truth, are limited in number and even quality compared with a real human.

Perhaps a new generation of humanoids, built using lab-created muscle and other new actuation technologies, could change perceptions and take things further.

But for now, for the type of humanoids which we are regularly given glimpses of through television shows such as Westworld and Humans, we would have to pay several million dollars each – possibly more.

Even then, they’re unlikely to be “perfect” in the sense of being able to mimic human behaviour well enough.

Nonetheless, tissue engineering and other types of actuation and “soft robotics” in general would appear to be the way forward, rather than the mechanical components used by humanoids today and in the past.

The fluidity of movement is missing, which is not surprising since they are all mechanical.

Once that is solved, however, the market may open up. It’s unlikely they will need to be able to communicate perfectly if they can move well and perform some complex tasks that humans do – like household chores.

Of course, conspiracy theorists will say that such robots – or androids or cyborgs or whatever you want to call them – already exist. We built them using alien technology. But we don’t know about any of that for sure.

It would, however, be highly surprising to the point of being impossible that unscrupulous secret organisations with large amounts of money would not have at least attempted to build realistic humanoid robots and androids.

Android armies who can be commanded to do absolutely anything are the stuff of the average megalomaniac’s dreams, so if it hasn’t been done already, it’s absolutely, positively on their lists of things to be done.

But for now, humanoids that look human will mostly live on screen and in research and development facilities.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Related stories you might also like…

Filed Under: Features, Humanoids Tagged With: asimo, honda, honda robotics, humanoids

Primary Sidebar

Search this website

Latest articles

  • Enterprise Sales Courses That Help Close Bigger Deals
  • Mitsubishi Electric says its robots are ‘bridging skills gaps’ in automation technology
  • Pusan National University scientists develop ‘game-changing method’ to create safer, long-lasting lithium-ion batteries
  • Fraunhofer develops ‘resource-efficient’ measurement system for semiconductor wafer production
  • Tokyo University scientists discover key to ‘stable, high-performance, and long-life’ sodium-ion batteries
  • Swiss Steel develops ‘sustainable and easy-to-machine special steels’ for automotive industry
  • How to Calculate Diminished Value for Your Car After an Accident
  • Gartner predicts one in 20 supply chain managers will manage robots, not humans, by 2030
  • Moldova launches new incubator for robotics, digital agriculture, and foodtech
  • Pudu Robotics launches new industrial sweeper and vacuum

Secondary Sidebar

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT