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Honda’s latest multi-fingered robotic hand can thread a needle, handle tools, open containers, and sustain heavy loads. The device belongs to Honda’s avatar robot program, offering the clearest evidence that the company’s humanoid research continued after ASIMO left the spotlight.
Honda introduced ASIMO in 2000 as a compact humanoid designed to operate around people. The robot could walk and run, climb stairs, recognize its surroundings, respond to people, and use its hands for tasks such as opening a bottle.
Its public demonstrations made Honda synonymous with humanoid robotics, while years of operation exposed the safety and autonomy challenges involved in placing a two-legged robot in unpredictable human environments.
Honda divided ASIMO’s capabilities into focused projects
Honda now favors robots designed for specific functions, which the company says can reach practical use faster than an all-purpose autonomous humanoid. Renewed attention to Honda’s robotics ambitions after ASIMO centers on its avatar robot, AI-supported remote controls, and dexterous hand.
The Honda Avatar Robot is intended to act as a remotely operated second body. A person could use it to perform maintenance, provide emergency medical support, enter a disaster site, or work in another location without traveling there or entering a hazardous environment.
The operator remains responsible for deciding what the robot should do. AI assists by correcting the hand’s position, grip, and force, compensating for the limited depth and tactile information available through cameras, goggles, and wearable controls.
Honda’s multi-fingered hand has 16 actuated joints, 288 tactile-sensor channels, and a maximum continuous fingertip force of 50 newtons. Honda says it has completed more than 450,000 durability-test cycles, including 24,000 cycles lifting a 5-kilogram weight.
The hand threaded a needle and tightened small fasteners at a Tokyo robotics summit in May. Those tasks connect directly to Honda’s remote-work concept because the robot must manipulate objects and tools originally designed for human hands.
Honda traces the technology back through ASIMO to P2, its autonomous bipedal robot introduced in 1996. P2 received an IEEE Milestone in April 2026 for its historical contribution to humanoid walking, balance, and control.
Commercial plans have not caught up with the research
Honda has described a practical goal for its avatar robot but has not named a product, customer, price, production target, or deployment date. The hand remains a research platform, and the company has not announced another complete humanoid as ASIMO’s successor.
For businesses considering humanoid systems, Honda’s approach offers an alternative to building a robot that must navigate and act autonomously from the start. Remote operation keeps a person in control, while AI handles corrections that are difficult to perform across a video connection. That model could suit specialized maintenance, hazardous work, medical support, and other tasks where human judgment remains essential.
Commercial viability will require evidence beyond laboratory tests and demonstrations. Buyers will need operating hours from a real site, intervention rates, safety controls, maintenance requirements, supported tasks, and integration costs.
Honda is developing that technology as Japan expands its robotics goals. The country is targeting 10 million AI-powered robots by 2040, while Mitsubishi Motors is considering humanoid robot production beginning in 2027.
Honda’s post-ASIMO strategy is now visible: combine remote human judgment with AI assistance and hardware capable of working in human environments. A named pilot customer would turn that research direction into a measurable commercial ambition.
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