One of the most promising fields for future economic growth is robotics, in which Japanese technology leads the world. ASIMO, a humanoid robot developed by Honda, can not only walk on two legs but also make out what two or more people speak at one time and avoid contact with other pedestrians by foreseeing their direction of walk, all thanks to the robot's built-in audiovisual sensors. In the near future, robots will be active in a range of fields and may even live alongside humans, just like in science-fiction films.