Honda’s Asimo robot to retire after 20-year career wowing public

Honda Motor’s Asimo humanoid robot will retire on Friday, ending its 20-year career of wowing the public with walking and dancing demonstrations at a showroom at the automaker’s Tokyo headquarters.

Since its debut in 2000, Asimo has become a symbol of Japan’s pioneering robot technology, mastering the abilities to run, hop on one leg, speak sign language using five fingers and pour coffee into a paper cup from a tumbler.

But Honda stopped all development of Asimo in recent years after last upgrading in 2011 to give it the ability to make autonomous decisions such as avoiding bumping into someone while walking.

In September last year, the Japanese automaker announced a plan to develop…