How can you learn to walk if you never fall down?

Nobody gets it right the first time; not even robots. This video inspired the following story.

It's 2 AM and Kimiko had been coding for 6 hours straight. She was about to make a breakthrough, but it would carry with it a painful mistake.

Compile.
Upload.
Run.

***

The project was conceived in a moment of inspired laziness. Every time the robot Asimo tripped over an obstacle, or lost its balance, or took a mis-programmed step, it would fall down, clattering on the cold floor. And every time, Kimiko struggled to help it back up. Asimo weighed over a hundred pounds with its power pack - almost as much as she did. If only it could get up by itself!