Ten years and tens of millions of dollars in the making, the Honda P3 strides down its course at the car company's secret research facility on the outskirts of Tokyo. The product of a costly decade-long effort, the Honda robotic project was only released from its shroud of corporate secrecy in 1996. In a carefully choreographed performance, P3 walks a line, opens a door, turns a corner, and after a safety chain is attached, climbs a flight of stairs. Despite its mechanical sophistication, it can't respond to its environment. If people were to step in its way, the burly robot would knock them down without noticing them. Ultimately, of course, Honda researchers hope to change that. But, in what seems an attempt to hedge the company's bet, P3's senior engineer Masato Hirose is also working on sending the robot to places where it cannot possibly injure anyone.. In the future, he hopes, the robot will be rocketed to distant planets, to remotely explore places human beings cannot yet visit.

Origin of Name
Prototype 3
Purpose
To cultivate a new dimension in mobility as an automobile company
Height
1.6 m
Weight
130 kg
Maximum Walking Speed
2 km/hr
Vision
Digital video cameras
Sensors
Gyrometer, G-Sensors,
6-Axisforce sensors on wrists and feet
Batteries
Ni-Zn batteries, 25 minute duration
External Power
DC 136v
Project Status
Ongoing
Information Source
Noriko Okamato