It's not just physical improvements either, since Honda has also been working hard on ASIMO's artificial intelligence. For instance, the machine can walk around without the aid of an operator, and can observe human behavior and predict the outcome. That means that if ASIMO sees someone hurtling down the corridor, it can work out that it needs to move out of the way. The droid is also capable of picking out multiple voices and faces from crowds and identifying multiple voices when they're all talking at once. Even more impressively, however, is that the automaton can even communicate in sign language thanks, in part, to those redesigned hands. The only question that remains, of course, is if we'd take one of these over SoftBank's Pepper? We know that the rival device is nowhere near as useful, but you have to admit, it is a lot cuter.