Walking Humanoid Robots (ASIMO)
Waseda's WABOT-1 (1973) walked on two legs; balance theory and Honda's P2 (1996) and ASIMO (2000) made stable walking work, the base that today's humanoid robots build on.
Open in the interactive tree →Waseda University's WABOT-1, completed in 1973 under Ichiro Kato, is widely seen as the first full-scale humanoid robot: it could walk on two legs, grip objects and speak simple Japanese. Miomir Vukobratović and Davor Juričić introduced the idea of the zero moment point in 1968, a rule for where a foot must press on the ground so that a walking robot does not tip over. Honda began humanoid research in 1986; its P2 (1996) was the first self-regulating two-legged walking robot, and ASIMO (2000) could run. Today's AI-steered humanoids, such as the all-electric Atlas that replaced Boston Dynamics' hydraulic model in 2024, inherit this walking and balance know-how.
Prerequisites
- Newtonian Mechanics1687The zero moment point is a balance rule taken from mechanics.
- Cybernetics & Feedback Control1948Staying upright while walking is a feedback-control problem.
- Industrial Robot (Unimate)1961Robot arms, joints and motor control came from industrial robots.
Unlocks
- Humanoid Robots2026Today's humanoids walk and balance with methods first worked out for WABOT and ASIMO.