ASIMO is the world’s first truly bipedal robot, introduced in 2000 by Honda Motor. The company’s inspiration for developing this robot is said to have been the “Astro Boy” cartoon by Osamu Tezuka. It was made to perform human-like activities—shaking hands, avoiding obstacles, and ascending and descending stairs. Improvements are currently being made so that it will have the ability to make its own judgment as to how it should move and to perform work cooperatively with other ASIMOs. In 2008 it drew attention by serving as a conductor for a US symphony orchestra.