On September 30, 2022, Musk's Optimus (Optimus Prime) prototype once again ignited the public's enthusiasm for humanoid robots. From the WABOT at Waseda University in 1972 to Tesla's debut of Optimus in 2022, human scientists have been developing humanoid robots for half a century. Currently, the leading companies in the global humanoid robot industry include Boston Dynamics, Sony, Honda, SoftBank Robotics, Agility, etc. Overall, global research on humanoid robots is mainly concentrated in regions represented by Europe, America, Japan, and China.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovative Development of Humanoid Robots" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), planning to initially establish an innovative system for humanoid robots by 2025; by 2027, the comprehensive strength is expected to reach the world's advanced level, becoming an important new engine for economic growth. The "Guiding Opinions" have immediately attracted attention from all walks of life and sparked heated discussions about humanoid robots.

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Research on humanoid robots in our country began in the 1990s. With the support of the national "863" plan, the National Natural Science Foundation, and funding from other departments and localities, many units such as the National University of Defense Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, and the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have achieved fruitful research results and cultivated a large number of scientific research teams and technical personnel. In August of this year, at the World Robot Conference and the 1024 Developer Festival not long ago, many companies' humanoid robots made a high-profile appearance. Today, the editor will introduce the domestic teams and companies that focus on the research and development and production of humanoid robots one by one, please continue to browse.

01. National University of Defense Technology Blackman

The National University of Defense Technology began research work in the field of walking robot systems and technology as early as 1987, and it was the first university in the country to conduct research on bipedal walking robots. In 1990, the bipedal walking robot prototype it announced could achieve a static walking speed of 0.36km/h. In 1999, it released China's first humanoid bipedal robot "Pioneer" that could achieve both static and dynamic walking. In 2003, it announced the Blackman walking robot, with a maximum dynamic walking speed of 1.08km/h. In 2010, with the support of the national "863" plan, it developed the walking robot Blackman-II, which achieved autonomous table tennis playing by a humanoid bipedal robot. In 2011, it successfully developed the walking robot Blackman-III. In 2021, it studied the trajectory planning and motion control technology of hydraulically driven bipedal robots, and the robot's maximum forward speed reached 2.5m/s.

02. Harbin Institute of Technology HIT Humanoid

The Robotics Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology has many academicians and many outstanding leading scientific research talents. Its humanoid robot system HIT WLR prototype system has gone through multiple iterations, using a combination of wheels and legs, mainly driven by hydraulics, weighing 80kg, 1.7m tall, with the characteristics of wheeled fast movement, the highest speed exceeding 15km/h, leg jumping obstacle 0.5m, and has the ability to pass through slopes, undulating terrain, and handling capabilities, with autonomous positioning, modeling, and navigation functions. In addition, it has also developed a hydraulically driven bipedal robot similar to Atlas, HIT Humanoid, weighing 60kg, 1.6m tall, with 21 degrees of freedom, and the robot has currently completed the development of the prototype. In August of this year, Bosi Shares signed a "Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with Harbin Institute of Technology to jointly establish a humanoid robot key technology and principle prototype industrialization research and development project, and to promote the industrialization of related technical achievements and products in the future.

03. UTH6This year at the World Robot Conference, Beijing Institute of Technology introduced the "Hui Tong 6" humanoid robot. Standing at 165cm and weighing 55kg, "Hui Tong 6" boasts 26 degrees of freedom, enabling it to perform a series of intricate movements such as walking, running, and jumping. It can run at speeds up to 7km/h, jump to a height of 0.5m, and leap a distance of 1m on its feet without moving. The robot is also capable of autonomously climbing stairs up to 20cm in height and overcoming obstacles up to 30cm tall.

The team from Beijing Institute of Technology began the development of their first humanoid robot in 2001 and has successfully developed seven generations of humanoid robots. In 2002, they created the first domestic cable-free walking robot capable of performing Tai Chi and swordplay. By 2010, their robots achieved the ability to play table tennis. Starting from 2016, the robots have realized multimodal motion capabilities such as falling, rolling, walking, crawling, jumping, and climbing, including internationally pioneering features like fall protection, rolling, walking, and crawling transitions. Currently, they have achieved a running speed of 6km/h, a high jump of 0.5m, a long jump of 1m, and have realized front somersaults, standing falls, and the ability to stand up again. Significant progress has been made in key technologies such as robot motion, operation, visual recognition, and intelligent decision-making, and they are moving towards higher technical indicators and practical applications.

04, Zhejiang University's Wukong 4.0

The Zhejiang University robotics team unveiled the fourth-generation humanoid robot, Wukong, at the World Robot Conference. The new Wukong, through the integration of leg motion technology and environmental perception technology, has achieved three-dimensional environmental mapping and autonomous dynamic navigation for the robot. It can walk through a variety of complex terrains, including stairs, grasslands, and obstacles like steel pipes, as well as slopes up to 25 degrees. The current walking speed can reach up to 6km/h. Additionally, it can now achieve a maximum jump height of 0.5m.

It is reported that Zhejiang University has been developing humanoid robots since 2006, breaking through core technologies such as adaptive precise modeling, dynamic balance control, full-body coordinated control, and intelligent perception decision-making. They have completed the development of four generations of the "Wukong" series of humanoid robots. The first generation of "Wukong" humanoid robots broke through the integration of hand, foot, and eye technologies, achieving human-machine and machine-machine table tennis matches, creating a significant international impact. The fourth generation of "Wukong" humanoid robots can move at speeds exceeding 6km/h, jump 0.5m high, ascend and descend slopes of up to 25 degrees, and steps of 10cm, adapting to various terrains such as outdoor roads, grasslands, and mud. Under unknown disturbances such as steel pipe roads and external pushing forces, it can quickly regain balance and maintain stable walking. By integrating leg motion technology with environmental perception technology, the robot has achieved three-dimensional environmental mapping and autonomous dynamic navigation.

05, UBTECH's WalkerX and Youyou

Since 2016, UBTECH has been developing large humanoid robots, and after several generations of engineering iterations, the first bipedal robot, Walker, was showcased at CES 2018, attracting widespread industry attention. This year, the panda robot Youyou and Walker X appeared at the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade. The panda robot Youyou had previously served for six months at the China Pavilion of the Dubai Expo. Walker X stands 130cm tall and weighs 63kg, equipped with 41 high-performance servo joints that make up its agile limbs, a multi-camera 3D vision system, and an all-directional auditory system. It can walk at speeds up to 3km/h and even on slopes of up to 20 degrees, achieving "real-time slope adaptation." The panda robot Youyou is based on Walker X and is custom-tailored with the image of a giant panda as its design prototype.UBTECH Robotics has successively launched a range of products, including the core servo actuator for humanoid robots, the consumer-grade humanoid robot Alpha series, the STEM education intelligent programming robot Jimu, and the intelligent cloud platform commercial service robot Cruzr. Among UBTECH's shareholders are well-known institutions such as Tencent, Qiming Venture Partners, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, CDH Investments, iFLYTEK, CP Group of Thailand, Haier, Telstra of Australia, Easyhome, Minsheng Securities, CITIC Goldstone, Minsheng International, CGN, and Songhe Capital. UBTECH is currently striving for an IPO on the Hong Kong stock market. If the listing goes smoothly, UBTECH will become the "first stock of humanoid robots."

06. Unitree Technology H1

In August 2023, Unitree Technology released its first humanoid robot, the H1. The robot stands approximately 180cm tall and weighs about 47kg. It is equipped with 3D LiDAR and a depth camera, offering 360° panoramic depth perception, with a walking speed of about 1.5m/s.

Unitree Technology was established in August 2016 by founder Wang Xingxing. The company is located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and is an innovative start-up specializing in the research, development, production, and sales of consumer-grade and industry-grade high-performance quadruped robots, dexterous six-axis robotic arms, and humanoid robots. The company has launched several quadruped robot products, including Laiakgo, Aliengo, A1, Go1, B1, and H1, with cumulative sales of thousands of units across dozens of countries. Unitree Technology has been invited to participate in events such as the 2021 Chinese New Year Gala on CCTV, the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the pre-show performance of the 2023 Super Bowl (American Spring Festival Gala), and the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games.

07. XPeng Motors PX5

At this year's 1024 Technology Day, XPeng Motors founder He Xiaopeng announced the new self-developed bipedal robot PX5. PX5 stands 150cm tall and features an ultra-lightweight humanoid arm, with a drive-integrated design that provides 7 degrees of freedom per arm. PX5 has a dexterous humanoid hand, with 11 degrees of freedom in a single hand, and a gripping force of 1kg per finger. It uses a hybrid rigid-flexible actuation scheme, providing grasping and wrapping postures for objects of different shapes, enabling precise actions such as pouring water, picking up small items, pulling out tissues, and shaking hands with people. According to the introduction, PX5 has the ability to walk on two legs and overcome obstacles, capable of walking and moving agilely indoors and outdoors, and resisting disturbances and overcoming obstacles. At the press conference, He Xiaopeng demonstrated that PX5 can hold a screwdriver, lift a box, pinch a ballpoint pen, hold a cup and pour water, and ride a balance board, among other tasks.

XPeng Motors was established in 2014, with its headquarters in Guangzhou. It is a new energy vehicle company with intelligent driving as its core competitive strength, initiated by He Xiaopeng, He Heng, and He Tao, among others. With the rise of humanoid robots, XPeng Motors has actively invested in research and development, considering humanoid robots as one of the important strategies for future development. XPeng has previously collaborated with its ecosystem company, Pengxing Intelligence, to launch a quadrupedal robotic horse.

08. CloudMinds XR-4

CloudMinds has always focused on wheeled humanoid robots. At the 2023 World Robot Conference, they showcased their first bipedal robot, the XR-4 (also known as the Seven Fairies). The Seven Fairies features more than 60 intelligent flexible joints, leading the industry; it uses a parallel drive structure and high torque density motors, with a peak torque of up to 600N·m. Empowered by the multimodal large model RobotGPT, it achieves high-performance embodied intelligence. The Seven Fairies is expected to be mass-produced by 2025.Datang Technology was founded in 2015 by Huang Xiaoqing, who formerly served as the dean of the China Mobile Research Institute. The company is located in Wangjing, Beijing. Datang Technology innovatively proposed the "cloud robot" ("cloud brain + secure network + robot") architecture and successfully commercialized cloud robots. In addition, Datang pioneered the development of the SCA, a robot intelligent flexible joint that integrates communication, computation, and sensing, addressing the limitations of robot hardware in standardization, integration, and industrialization, reducing the entry barrier for robots and accelerating the formation of the industrial ecosystem.

09. ZhuiMi Technology

At this year's World Robot Conference, ZhuiMi Technology showcased a humanoid robot capable of walking upright with the support of a frame and making coffee for the audience on-site. The ZhuiMi general humanoid robot achieves a high degree of biomimicry, standing at 178cm tall and weighing 56kg, with a total of 44 degrees of freedom throughout the body, including 6 degrees of freedom per leg, enabling it to stand on one leg. For interaction, it is equipped with a depth camera that can model the indoor three-dimensional environment, combined with advanced gait control algorithms and various sensors, allowing it to adapt to different terrains and achieve autonomous obstacle avoidance.

Founded in 2017, ZhuiMi Technology joined the Xiaomi ecosystem by the end of the same year, taking charge of the intelligent cleaning category. The company is headquartered in Suzhou, and its predecessor was the "Sky Factory" established by the founder Yu Hao at Tsinghua University. "Aircraft and dreams" was Yu Hao's lifelong aspiration, but as he grew up, he gradually realized that his dream was less about "building aircraft" and more about continuously exploring the limits with technology.

In 2021, ZhuiMi Technology successfully completed a C round of financing worth 3.6 billion, setting a record for the largest single financing in the smart hardware industry. After 2021, ZhuiMi Technology began to lay out a broad robot ecosystem, successively launching intelligent service robot products such as a biomimetic quadruped robot, a general humanoid robot, a commercial food delivery robot, and a pool cleaning robot.

10. Beijing Iron Man

Beijing Iron Man Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2015 and is one of the earlier companies in China engaged in the research and development and promotion of bipedal large humanoid robots. The founder, Zhang Rui, hails from the Automation Department of Beijing Union University and has worked at the UAV Institute of Beihang University, the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology, participating in the research and development of UAVs, robots, aerospace, and other fields.

At the beginning of the team's establishment, Iron Man Technology developed three generations of humanoid robots within two years, quickly completing the construction of the product system. They also made independent research and technological breakthroughs in key technologies such as humanoid robot controllers, operating systems, and communication networks, and participated in several national-level projects, including the astronaut humanoid robot.11. Xiaomi Technology CyberOne

In 2018, Xiaomi established the Xiaomi Robotics Lab, making an early move to enter the intelligent robotics market. In August 2022, they launched the humanoid robot CyberOne.

Xiaomi Technology is renowned worldwide for its smartphones and smart home products and is one of the leading intelligent manufacturing companies globally. The humanoid robot CyberOne, with artificial intelligence at its core and a standard humanoid form as its carrier, represents Xiaomi's exploration of future technology ecosystems and a new achievement in Xiaomi's diverse and integrated technological system.

12. Fourier Intelligence gr-1

Fourier Intelligence's general-purpose humanoid robot gr-1 was officially released in July this year. This robot features a highly biomimetic torso configuration and anthropomorphic motion control, with capabilities for fast walking, agile obstacle avoidance, stable uphill and downhill movement, and resistance to impact interference. Combined with cognitive intelligence, it can collaborate with humans to complete actions, showing great potential in various application scenarios such as industry, rehabilitation, home, and research.

Founded in Shanghai in 2015, Fourier Intelligence is a unicorn enterprise in the domestic rehabilitation robotics sector. Its rehabilitation robots can effectively assist rehabilitation therapists, saving labor costs and allowing therapists to focus on designing personalized treatment plans for patients with different conditions. The company's founder, Gu Jie, once stated that the dream of creating humanoid robots began during his studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2003, but he did not start blindly. Instead, he took one step at a time, starting with exoskeleton robots in the medical rehabilitation field.

13. Star Motion Epoch Little Star

On August 4, 2023, Assistant Professor Chen Jianyu from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University founded Star Motion Epoch in Beijing. The company focuses on the research and development of embodied intelligence and general-purpose humanoid robot technology, believing that "embodied intelligence" is the next wave of artificial intelligence, with humanoid robots becoming an important carrier.Star Motion Era is an academic entrepreneurship team incubated by the team of Turing Award winner, CAS Academician, and Dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University, Yao Qi Zhi. Consequently, many of Star Motion Era's technologies are derived from the technological achievements of Tsinghua University's Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. The company has exhibited two sizes of humanoid robots, "Xiao Xing."

14. Zhiyuan Robot Expedition A1

Former Huawei "genius teenager" and well-known technology UP main on Bilibili, Zhi Hui Jun (real name Peng Zhihui), founded Zhiyuan Robot in Shanghai in February this year. Zhiyuan Robot is committed to the deep integration of AI and robotics, with a long-term investment in creating competitive robotic products and ecosystems.

In August, the company launched its first complete human-shaped humanoid bipedal robot, Expedition A1, which is 175cm tall, weighs 53kg, has a maximum walking speed of 7km/h, has 49 degrees of freedom, can bear a load of 80kg, and has a maximum single-arm load of 5kg.

Zhi Hui Jun also mentioned at the press conference that many industry giants' robots can already climb walls and walk on beams. In the near future, for Expedition A1, dancing and parkour will not be difficult. The most critical point is that they will control its cost within 200,000 yuan, truly having the potential for commercial use.

15. Zhuji Dynamics

Zhuji Dynamics was founded in Shenzhen in 2022 by Dr. Zhang Wei, a tenured professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology. Zhuji Dynamics is a general-purpose legged robot company incubated under the background of the Southern University of Science and Technology's industry-university-research collaboration. The founder, Dr. Zhang Wei, has been researching humanoid robots for many years. In 2021, he and his team from Ohio State University were the first in the United States to use reinforcement learning methods to achieve stable indoor and outdoor walking of humanoid bipedal robots. After the establishment of Zhuji Dynamics, they have further advanced by promoting the development of bipedal robots through model-driven and AI hybrid approaches.

On October 17th of this year, Zhuji Dynamics completed angel round and Pre-A round financing, with a total amount close to 200 million yuan. This round of financing will bring financial and industrial support for Zhuji Dynamics from product implementation to cutting-edge technology research, covering the commercialization of quadruped robots, the development of humanoid bipedal robots, and the breakthrough of AI and embodied intelligence core technologies. In November, former autonomous driving executive Zhang Li and top AI scientist Dr. Pan Jia joined Zhuji Dynamics to accelerate the commercialization of general-purpose legged robots and the breakthrough of embodied intelligence technology.

16. Pure Rice Technology Da Qiang

On January 19, 2023, Pure Rice Technology officially announced the screen debut video of Pure Rice's "full-size humanoid bionic robot." The video shows the robot's details up close. According to the core R&D team members, the internal code name for this robot is "Da Qiang." It has a total of 35 servo motors, a highly flexible body, and all five fingers can achieve bionic-level bending movements. Its maturity even surpasses Xiaomi's CyberOne.Pure Rice Technology was founded by Yang Hua in Shanghai in May 2013 and joined the Xiaomi ecosystem in 2014. Relying on internet-based kitchen appliances, Pure Rice Technology has created a technological kitchen ecosystem for the future era of customized cooking. The team consists of over 500 members, most of whom come from top global technology companies such as Apple, MOTO, IBM, Philips, and Sanyo.

17. Entropy Luo Intelligence

Entropy Luo Intelligence was established by Chen Kangjian in Shanghai in 2015, with a team centered around Tongji University. The company mainly focuses on the research and development of ROS robot kits, collaborative robotic arms, humanoid robots, biomimetic robots, and dexterous hands.

18. Dalian Emperor AI EX Robot

The key technologies of EX robots involve synthetic skin, mechanical structure, flexible robot joints, and motion control. For instance, the robot operating system controls over 140 motors throughout the robot's body to enable flexible and precise movements. The combination of synthetic skin and mechanical structure allows the robot to make subtle human expressions such as blinking and frowning. In addition to synthetic skin, the EX Robot Group utilizes multimodal fusion technology and a proprietary Chinese language GPT model to endow these biomimetic humanoid robots with the abilities to listen, see, speak, answer, and think. They also possess an extremely high degree of freedom, enabling them to flexibly grasp objects and imitate various human movements and expressions.

Dalian Emperor AI was founded by Li Boyang in July 2013, listed on the New Third Board, and specializes in the research, development, production, sales, and service of intelligent biomimetic humanoid robots. The innovation and technology research and development team of the EX robot product is composed of experts returning from Waseda University in Japan and Kitakyushu University.

19. 58 Intelligent Bionic Robot

58 Intelligent Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. was established in February 2022, specializing in the development and industrialization of cutting-edge bionic intelligent technologies. It was jointly established by China Ordnance Equipment Group Automation Research Institute Co., Ltd. and China Ordnance Equipment Group Hangzhou Zhiyuan Research Institute Co., Ltd., and is the operational entity of the Bionic Intelligent Control Research Institute of the Intelligent Innovation Research Institute of the China Ordnance Equipment Group.

The overall design concept of "Great Sage" is inspired by the fastest two-legged animal on Earth—the ostrich. It stands 1.15 meters tall, weighs about 30 kg, and can walk at a speed of 4.5 km/h. With its ostrich-like physiological structure and movement, "Great Sage" has the ability to adapt to complex terrain environments such as grasslands and gravel and can walk for over 2 hours on a single charge. "Great Sage" also excels in dynamic impact resistance during its movement, with a dynamic disturbance impulse mass ratio of 0.4 Ns/kg, which is leading in the domestic industry.

20. Zhong Bing Intelligent Innovation Institute FuxiAt the 6th Shanghai Import Expo, the Fuxi humanoid robot from the China Ordnance Intelligent Innovation Research Institute made its debut, providing exhibition area explanations for visiting guests. This robot adopts an embodied intelligence technology approach, possessing strong learning capabilities and a broad range of application scenarios.

China Ordnance Intelligent Innovation Research Institute Co., Ltd. was established in January 2022 and includes departments such as the Intelligent Systems General Technology Department, Intelligent Swarm Technology Department, Unmanned Platform Technology Department, and Bionic Robot Technology Department.

21. Zhejiang Lab

During the 8th China Robot Summit and the Asian Games, Zhejiang Lab showcased a variety of products including humanoid piano-playing robots, high-performance humanoid robots, deep-sea robots, integrated joints, and intelligent low-altitude manned aerial vehicles.

Zhejiang Lab was established in September 2017, located in the core area of the Hangzhou Western Science and Technology Innovation Corridor. The lab is a new type of research and development institution led by the People's Government of Zhejiang Province and supported by universities such as Zhejiang University. It is a significant scientific and technological innovation platform for Zhejiang to deeply implement the innovation-driven development strategy and explore a new Zhejiang path for the new national system. Currently, Academician Wang Jian of the Chinese Academy of Engineering serves as the director of the lab. The Intelligent Robotics Research Center is one of the earliest established research centers at Zhejiang Lab.

22. Shanghai University of Engineering Science's Institute of Machine Intelligence - Xiaobei 4.0

The humanoid robot Xiaobei 4.0, developed by Professor Li Qingdu's team at Shanghai University of Engineering Science, stands at 130cm tall and weighs only 35kg. It is understood that Xiaobei has very low walking energy consumption, and while most bipedal robots walk with bent legs, Xiaobei can achieve a natural gait. Through lightweight structural design and inertial drive technology, it achieves walking energy consumption of less than 100W, currently being the lowest in the global field.

23. iFLYTEK

At this year's 1024 Developer Festival, iFLYTEK officially announced its humanoid robot, combining large models with embodied intelligent humanoid robots. The Spark Large Model will empower the development of iFLYTEK AIBOT to a new stage. The humanoid robot significantly enhances the disassembly of complex tasks and the search for objects in open scenarios. There is also a significant improvement in the robot's ability to generalize grasping through reinforcement learning and its complex terrain locomotion capabilities in human-like walking. It is reported that in the future, iFLYTEK will use humanoid robots as a driving force to promote the 'vision-language-action' multimodal embodied large model, better assisting in the intellectual upgrade of robots.

24. Accelerated EvolutionRecently, the humanoid robot startup "Accelerated Evolution" has completed an angel round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan. The funds raised in this round will primarily be used for product research and development, mass production, and team building. Established in 2023, the company is committed to developing more agile humanoid robot bodies and an easily accessible control development platform. The founder, Cheng Hao, was once a senior executive in the ByteDance system and has experience in managing large-scale production and research teams, as well as commercializing complex business operations. He is a student of Professor Zhao Mingguo, a humanoid robot expert at Tsinghua University.

Accelerated Evolution will initially focus on the developer community, providing humanoid robots to AI companies and research institutes to quickly achieve mass production and supply of standard products.

Summary:

The vast market space and the industry prospects are as boundless as the sea of stars, and humanoid robots are poised for significant opportunities. Humanoid robots reflect the highest level of intelligent equipment technology in today's world. According to predictions by the international investment bank Goldman Sachs, by 2035, the market size for humanoid robots is expected to reach 154 billion US dollars. However, overall, humanoid robots are still in the early stages of industry development and cultivation. It is imperative to strengthen top-level design, build industry consensus, clarify development directions, increase the openness of algorithms, computing power, and data, and properly plan the industrial chain and supporting construction of humanoid robots to jointly build a favorable ecosystem for industry development.

In the next issue, we will provide a detailed introduction to foreign humanoid robot teams, so stay tuned.

Source: Robotics Technology and Applications