Honda’s Asimo robot to retire after 20-year career wowing public

Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo humanoid robot will retire on Thursday, ending its 20-year career of wowing the public with walking and dancing demonstrations at a showroom at the automaker’s Tokyo headquarters.

Since its debut in 2000, Asimo has become a symbol of Japan’s pioneering robot technology, mastering the abilities to run, hop on one leg, speak sign language using five fingers and pour coffee into a paper cup from a tumbler.

But Honda stopped all development of Asimo in recent years after last upgrading in 2011 to give it the ability to make autonomous decisions such as avoiding bumping into...