Yes, we're a long way from a walking robot butler, or even Paulie's
wheeled maid in Rocky III, but Kawada Industries, a Japanese
robotics company, continues to push the technology forward. While
their humanoids don't get as much hype as Honda's ASIMO, Kawada's
models have many of the same capabilities.

Maybe the problem is that
they're just not as cute as little ASIMO. The newest version, HRP-3
Promet, looks like it just walked out of an anime book - there's
definitely a Voltron-esque quality. It can walk on two legs, and it's
also waterproof. Still, on looks alone, we prefer its predecessor, the
more colorful HRP-2.—Gregory Mone

But hey, it walks on sand!

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Honda's Asimo demos on their North Hall stage have been drawing large crowds, likely full of people hoping to see the bipedal 'bot take another tumble. Monday's demos didn't come through in that respect, but the gathered onlookeres were instead treated to a different spectacle: Asimo's "running" capabilities. While it may look like a child astronaut urgently needing a restroom (or a child astronaut who has mastered a sort of fast-motion pimp walk), Asimo's four-mph jog—in which both feet leave the ground for a brief .08 seconds at the height of the stride—is nonetheless a pretty amazing sight. —John Mahoney

Check out the little guy warming up and then making the dash below: