Oh, robots, they grow up so fast, don’t they? No wait a minute…they don’t. Well, anyway, Honda celebrated the ninth birthday of their famous ASIMO robot at the beginning of the month. With over 200 fans attending the ceremony at Honda headquarters in Tokyo, the young robot was dancing for joy. Honda invited many other nine year olds (and adults) to the celebration and had silent comedy duo Gamarjabat perform to entertain them (watch it here). Executive Chief Engineer (and father of ASIMO) Masato Hirose spoke, reaffirming his commitment to developing a robot that can live and work in the human world.

While Honda has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ASIMO, executives decided to cut costs and keep the cake a cardboard facsimile rather than the real thing. What do robots need with cake anyway?

ASIMO has certainly been a favorite here at the Hub over the years. We’ve seen the bot walk through difficult terrain, endure an early brain control system, and even fall down the stairs. The next nine years are likely to be even more eventful for ASIMO as robotics continues to grow rapidly. So Happy Birthday, ASIMO, enjoy your childhood while you can. They’ve got to put you to work sometime. Don’t they? You can’t just have a robot wandering around doing nothing all day…

[photo credit robot.watch.impress.co.jp]

