Honda’s Asimo is probably the world’s most famous humanoid robot. The company today leaked the first technical details and pictures of the fourth version of Asimo, the P4. And the new and improved Asimo, which took 13 years for Honda to develop (P3 was unveiled in 1997), looks much more elegant and human astronaut-like than the previous models. Standing 160cm tall, Asimo is probably only second in height to “tower robot” Tsutenkaku. P4 is as tall as P3, but Honda managed to reduce his weight from 130kg to 80kg. He now has 34 joints (two more joints in each hand than P3) and is said to be able to dance better than his predecessors (“dancing” was always one of Asimo’s special skills). The new Asimo has a more flexible waist (which allows him to walk in a smoother way) and completely redesigned chest and shoulder areas. It looks completely different from the P1 Honda showed back in 1993. We’ll let you know when we get the first videos showing Asimo in action.

Via Plastic Pals and Response [JP]

Update: Sorry readers, it looks as if P4 is just being publicly displayed in a museum in Japan, and Honda isn’t planning to manufacture the robot.