Honda P2: the first humanoid with its own battery
On 20 December 1996 Honda disclosed ten years of closed research and showed for the first time a prototype of a self-standing two-legged humanoid robot with its battery on board: two legs, two arms, 180 cm tall, 210 kg, an operating time of about 15 minutes. The robot judges the surface itself and walks on flat floor, over steps, on slopes and up and down stairs, does not fall when pushed, changes direction on a wireless command, and with its two hands pushes a cart or tightens bolts under remote operation.
Why it matters
Until then two-legged robots either walked statically or trailed a cable to external power and a computer. P2 carried everything in its torso and walked with the natural dynamic gait that had been thought out of reach; by Honda’s account this set humanoid research going worldwide and four years later produced ASIMO.
The press release (in Japanese, Honda Motor Co., 20 December 1996) gives the specification: humanoid mobile robot, 2 legs and 2 arms, on-board battery, operating time about 15 minutes, an operator interface; control by an operator remotely and autonomously by the robot's own programs; height 180 cm, weight 210 kg. Honda's history page gives the height as 1,820 mm at the same 210 kg, a discrepancy within Honda itself; the record names both figures with their documents. The line: E0 of 1986 at 15 seconds a step (static walking), E2 with dynamic walking at 1.2 km/h, E6 with the three stability controls (ground reaction force, desired zero moment point, foot landing position), P1 at 1,915 mm and 175 kg on external power, P3 in September 1997 at 1,600 mm and 130 kg. The technical description is Hirai, Hirose, Haikawa and Takenaka, The development of Honda humanoid robot, ICRA 1998, Leuven, May 1998, pages 1321-1326: walking forward, backward, sideways and diagonally, turning, continuous stair climbing, autonomous motion along a planned path and simple operations by wireless teleoperation; the full text is paywalled and the abstract was read. In April 2026 IEEE recognised P2 as a Milestone. What the record does not claim: P2's walking speed, its number of degrees of freedom, or that the 20 December showing was a public walk rather than a press conference with video; the release says the prototype was disclosed for the first time, the milestone page says a demonstration video was released.