Check the backgrounds of the Asimo team. See how much of their work traces back to Raibert's early research at MIT, and prior work at CMU. The big difference is that Asmio basically records human walking and then plays back the motions, while Raibert's work is based on actually understanding how walking "works" and creating an algorithmic solution to the process of walking. Raibert's robots were running (and skipping and hopping) ten years ago, while Asimo can barely manage a slow walk even now.
-dave