Barack Obama gets a kick out of footballing robot

TOKYO: Barack Obama on Thursday came face to face with Japan's newest sporting phenomenon - an eerily realistic humanoid robot which can run, jump and enjoy a kickaround with the president of the United States.

The US leader marvelled at Asimo, a robot developed by Honda, as he highlighted Japanese technology and the potential for joint projects with US universities and firms on the first full day of his Asian tour.

He encountered Asimo, a robot which is about the size of a 10-year-old child in an astronaut suit, as he toured the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.

"It's nice to meet you," the robot cheerily hailed Obama, prompting the amused president to reply "It's nice to meet you too."

Asimo then went through its paces for the president, showing off its realistic but somewhat spooky range of movements, before telling the US leader in its metallic voice: "I can kick a soccer ball too."

"OK, come on then," Obama said, bracing for a pass as the robot backed off to line up his shot before coming in and delivering a sharp kick, sending the ball towards Obama. He deftly controlled it with a shiny dress shoe.

"How about that? That was pretty impressive," Obama said, before the robot showed off its newest trick - jumping around the room.

Moments later, talking to students, Obama admitted: "I have to say the robots were a little scary, they were too lifelike."

Asimo is the latest prototype in a 20-year project by Honda to develop a humanoid robot that can be used as an aid for elderly people or to perform tasks hazardous to humans, like fighting fires or cleaning toxic spills.

According to the Honda website, the robot, controlled by a laptop computer over a wireless network, can climb stairs and grasp objects and is the first such machine that can actually run like a human.

Salman Khan's body double injured while filming Kick in Delhi

Salman Khan

 

When you'll watch the high-octane chase between Salman Khan and Randeep Hooda in Sajid Nadiadwala's forthcoming film Kick, if you don't read this, little will you know what happened to the guy who kicked off the scene for Salman.

This guy, who goes by just his first name Ajay in the industry, landed himself in the hospital with serious facial injuries. The incident happened in Delhi last week.

Nadiadwala had rented a row house near a railway track. Ajay (one of Salman's body doubles) was supposed to jump from the first floor of the house onto the railway track. The scene then required Salman (not Ajay) to get onto a moving train with Randeep Hooda (who plays a cop) close on his heels. Ajay went through the sugar glass (a brittle transparent form of sugar used in place of glass) but the timing went wrong and many broken pieces of the glass pierced his face.

Salman and Nadiadwala both rushed to Ajay and the latter immediately arranged for a car to drive him to a hospital. The shooting was called off for the day.

"Salman has four body doubles specialising in different kinds of action for Kick as the movie has several deadly stunts. It would be foolish for Salman to risk his life all the time. What happened was unfortunate," an eyewitness told Mirror.

Till the time of going to the press, Ajay had not returned to the sets. Mirror has learnt that the scene was wrapped up the next day by one of the other three body doubles working on the film.

Randeep Hooda will compete in equestrian Nationals while filming Kick

Randeep Hooda is in Delhi. And so are his five horses. They were loaded on a truck from the race course here on Thursday night and will arrive in the capital today. However, this has nothing to do with Sajid Nadiadwala's directorial debut, Kick, for which the actor is currently shooting.

"I wouldn't mind doing a film revolving around horses but I wouldn't dilute my equity just sitting on one," says Randeep, who intends to take part in the National Equestrian Championship which flags off on March 11, in two categories, show jumping and dressage.

 I'm with the times, not behind it: Randeep Hooda

"With all the shoots and promotions, I haven't got much practise but I'm sure I won't embarrass myself," asserts Randeep who has bagged national honours in dressage, adding that the idea is not to just bag more medals though he's hoping for some. "When my best horse, who has since retired from competition, was in peak form, I had no money to take part in the competition. Now that I have some money, I want to participate. There is no life without sport and no sport without competition," says Randeep, who has been training with his horses for seven years.

The horses will be at the Army Polo and Riding Club which isn't too far from Janpath where he is staying. Randeep plans to wake up by 4 am and train with his horses, followed by another session after pack-up. "I won't be sleeping much for the next 10-12 days. I've told Sajid bhai that I'll be taking part in the Nationals and he has no objections," he says. The actor has been earning rave reviews for his performance in Highway.

"So many women want to get abducted by me now," he laughs. Will Kick be as big a kick? "It's a different film in terms of genre and mounting with a superstar. The film revolves around Salman (Khan), Jacqueline (Fernadez) and me. It will undoubtedly get a bigger audience than Highway. Yes, I'm pretty kicked," he signs off.