Japan's Honda has denied a press report it is hoping to retool its humanoid robot Asimo to enable it to join emergency work inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun said in its Friday evening edition that Honda was aiming to upgrade the robot's upper body functions so that it can move its arms as smoothly as a human being.
US Honda spokesman Lauren Ebner said the report was 'speculation'.
'Although Honda hopes that Asimo will someday be a helper to people, at this point the robot is solely a research and design project,' Ms Ebner said in a statement to AFP.
