Startups and tech giants around the world are competing to build the best humanoid robot soon I’ll be visiting projects like this in person and interviewing their Founders for now let’s run through all of the competitors in this space and see what they’re up to we’ll start stationary and get more advanced as we go in no particular order.
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Ambidex – Naver Labs
A stationary robot that has a cable system so that it’s not too strong. You’re able to interact with the robot as a human being without risking getting crushed, ultimately we want to see these systems in the workforce so their ability to work alongside humans in a safe manner is paramount to their success. This system is teleoperated which means they use some kind of controller or haptic device. This is different from full autonomy.
Realman
One of the few systems I’ve been able to see in person so far called the real man it was at the automate 2024 show in Chicago sorting some blocks on it’s screen you can see the vision processing system it’s using to assess the color.
S1 – Astribot
Controlled with AI instead of teleoperation so you don’t need a human controller. They’ve got it working with food, in every kindergarten computer class they teach you not to have food around computers so it’s particularly impressive when you see robots working in this kind of environment the big question is how long it would last over time?
Kime – Macco
Kime by Mako a robotic bartender that operates within an apparatus containing all the dispensers it needs to run a small business by itself. At first I wasn’t sure whether or not to include stationary systems but this company makes it clear their ambition is to build a full humanoid robot so it’s best to start covering their story early.
Armar 6 – Karlsruhe University
Armar 6 is a project over 14 years old from a German University back then the robots were moving a lot slower and I think they’ve improved some of the design aesthetically too. Even back then their system had the ability to mimic the movement of a person without any kind of controller.
Promobot
another older system is promobot which is in the category of communication robots back then language translation was a big deal these days AI handles that in seconds.
Pepper – Softbank Robotics
SoftBank robotics has two robots on this list the first of which being pepper this is a stationary robot with two arms and a screen. In one case it was paired with an additional apparatus so that it can run a small ice cream business. It’s unclear what the maintenance requirements would be or the longevity of a system like this but it’s certainly exciting to see.
Eve – 1X
now we move on to the humanoid robots on Wheels they don’t quite have legs yet although this company 1X does have a robot in development called Neo that will have legs. Eve is fairly advanced already it’s also able to navigate through a variety of doors course and openings. Like many of the companies on this list advancements in AI have allowed for new levels of software integration and capabilities that were previously untenable. As of March Eve is now able to do tasks like clean things up and even fold clothes which was previously touted as an impossible task for robots. 1X has been around for 10 years and their CEO burnt puts a high priority on safety that’s why the system has a soft body so that if it hits something it won’t be damaging as metal or hard plastic might.
Hector – Laser Robotics
Small robots inherently require less materials and probably will operate with similar software so operating at this level might be useful.
NAO – Softbank Robotics
Soft Bank robotics builds NAO in addition to the ice cream bot we saw earlier. This is much smaller, a biped instead of a stationary system or robot on wheels.
OP3 – Google Deep Mind
Tiny bipeds from Google deepmind a project called op3. The interesting factor here is how they were trained. First they watched real soccer gameplay footage then operated in a virtual environment competing with each other to score goals and through thousands of iterations. Eventually they even picked up on strategies like defense. The simulations are all about trial and error to discover the most efficient ways to move. It’s wild how natural the simulation learned code looks relative to the scripted code.
Ergo Cub – IIT
Ergo is a research project by the Italian Institute of Technology. Ergo Cub is controlled with the ifeel suit, a person wears the full body suit and special shoes which have sensors so that the computer can track the human motions and translate them to the robot along it to be teleoperated.
Hydra
Hydra which was also trained partially in a simulation this system is only legs but the notable aspect is that it’s all Hydro electrostatic actuators. Hydraulic actuators are much stronger than electric actuators but this also makes them more dangerous. Actuators are a fundamental component of humanoid robots as opposed to stepper Motors more commonly used in 3D printing. Actuators come in three main categories hydraulic, electric, or pneumatic some teams are building their actuators in house. I can’t wait to meet some of the experts working with this stuff handson and get their perspective.
4NE1 – Neura Robotics
Neura Robotics brought 4NE1 to the automate 2024 conference but it was just stationary like a statue not doing any kind of tasks they’ve released this video but it’s just a rendering hopefully we get to see some realaction soon but for now they’re not making these for anyone.
Themis – Westwood Robotics
Themis is the full-size humanoid robot from Westwood robotics they also have a small smaller research based robot. This bigger unit isn’t exactly for sale yet but they do have this clever teaser video demonstrating its ability to walk and carry things. It doesn’t have complicated hands yet. Their smaller system Bruce is available for $16,000 and they have a few different $2,000 bonuses if you’re able to complete tasks like flipping and other complex Maneuvers for about that size $16,000 seems pretty expensive
Nadia – IHMC
Nadia is a research project from the Florida Institute of human and machine cognition and as Floridians would, the first thing they’re teaching it is combat. Nadia is capable of breaking planks and they’ve also trained it to hit a moving pad with gloves. Lately Nadia is working on her dodging skills. When Nadia earns her black belt she might have some serious defense tech applications.
Magicbot – Magic Labs
Magic bot from Magic Labs was one of the last companies to make this list. I had been searching for humanoid robotic companies to include for months and in the final days of preparation stumbled across this company. Their website is just a logo and their YouTube channel has under a thousand subscribers but their humanoid robot seems to have quite dextrous hands that’s even capable of folding clothes. It’s unclear whether this is human operated with a controller or some type of AI capable of these tasks without the human in the loop.
Apollo – Apptronik
First full-size bipedal humanoid robot on this list with hands and dexterity able to walk and lift things on its own. Right now they seem focused on logistics and warehouse operating roles.
CyberOne – Xiaomi
One of many competitive Chinese companies in the humanoid robotic space. Demonstrated the ability to to walk, hold an item and also pass it off to a human in a public conference. Their partnership with Xiaomi means there’s no shortage of manufacturing capacity resources and talent available
Kepler
It does appear to be a bipedal humanoid but it’s attached to an overhead system and also plugged in perhaps not the most advanced system on the list
GR1 – Fourier
Fourier intelligence is developing the GR1 with the unique goal of elderly care. I’m going to take a hardline stance here that many of you will disagree with but I think that there’s more than enough people on Earth for companionship and these roles are much better served with real humans rather than robots we need robot workers not robot friends.
CL1 – LimX Dynamics
Limex Dynamics is a collaborative organization with participants from many American and Chinese universities. Altogether they’ve published over 130 papers on the topic of humanoid robots. The cl1 has demonstrated its ability to climb up steps though it was supported with a gantry system and safety cables. I’m always a bit more impressed when they’re confident enough to let the robot operate without supporting cables.
PX5 – Xpeng
Xpeng is a Chinese auto manufacturer and they’ve developed the px5. It seems many auto manufacturers are trying their hand at humanoid robots, perhaps the manufacturing experience they have will help in bringing a technology like this to scale once they figure out how to make them most effective. Not only can it navigate a dynamic floor surface it’s also able to use different navigation methods like a hoverboard so instead of walking it’s just leaning forward and backward. Kind of a roundabout way to get a humanoid robot on Wheels but hey it’s pretty impressive.
Pal – Talos
Pal was initially released by Talos six years ago and lately they’ve been releasing new videos in the past year of it completing new tasks like navigating stairs and surfaces that that are not flat this is in anticipation of helping a system like this leave the warehouse and walk around in the real world. Other systems are already capable of completing this task but for each one they need to go through these learning steps kind of like a toddler so that they’re able to be competent in everyday scenarios out in the real world.
Menteebot – Mentee Robotics
An interesting system that looks much more lean than some of the other robots in this category. It’s an AI first company and they hope the system will be able to learn from people as a mentee. The arms seem quite long relative to the size of the body and it notably has no head. Interesting design choices, personally I appreciate function over form. I can’t wait to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of the different form factors these systems take on.
H1 – Unitree
Unitree a company which also builds quadruped robots makes the H1 it’s a humanoid robot, it just doesn’t have hands. This system is able to navigate steps and complete tasks like turning around in the narrow scope of the top of these steps.
G1 – Unitree
their brand new humanoid robot new and improved and this one as as you can see does include hands it’s weird seeing some of the odd robotic motions they’re capable of I’m sure unry has learned a ton from the H1 and they’ve implemented a lot of those learnings into the G1 it’s able to take quite a beating and still remain upright balancing itself after being punched or pushed in the release video. They say it will be for sale for $16,000 though I’m not sure when it will be commercially available. Unitree also demonstrated how it’s capable of folding up for a sort of transport mode to ne carried by humans. It seems small enough that it could be picked up and moved fairly easily, that said it’s still over 75 lbs so lift with your knees and maybe hit the gym if you haven’t been picking things up in a while. Like we learned earlier systems like this are often trained in simulations. This robot was trained with reinforcement learning simulating motions thousands of times before practicing them in the real world. The robots ability to crack a walnut is kind of intimidating and brings up the question of safety. How strong should the robot be? it’s impressivly able to open a bottle cap without cracking the glass.
Figure – OpenAI partnership
Figure is among the most competitive and compelling players in the space of humanoid robots. They’ve recently announced a partnership with open AI so that their system can become smarter and adapt to more real world scenarios. Figure has also just raised $650 million to accelerate their progress in developing a humanoid robotic system. Many of their parts including actuators are developed in-house. The CEO Brett Adcock initially started a recruiting firm called Vettery, sold it for $100 million then started Archer an electric air craft firm worth $2.7 billion now he’s started figure and his ambition is to automate human labor. It’s been shown making a coffee which may not seem too complex at first glance but when you consider how many intricacies and possibility for error there is you start to understand why it’s so important to have an artificial intelligence that can adapt to all the different real world scenarios that might arise. If you want to keep up with the latest advancements in software AI their CEO Brett is a great follow on X every Sunday he posts a comprehensive overview of pretty much every major development in the AI software space seems like moving boxes will be the first job of many of these systems.
Optimus – Tesla
The third iteration of robot from Tesla. They’ve been advancing quickly initially unveiling the Bumblebee concept then Optimus gen 1. Recently on X Elon said they’re working on a version which will have 22 degrees of freedom in the hands instead of 11. They’ve got it walking around the factory without any kind of special harness and although the gait may look kind of strange it’s a significant improvement from the earlier walking in both pace and aesthetic. Tesla has two massive advantages when it comes to humanoid robots they’ve got a hardware and manufacturing advantage both in developing things like actuators in-house and producing them at scale. Tesla also has a software advantage because of the AGI behind FSD. If the software can understand the world around it it can navigate through it without causing any harm. Finger sensors allow fragile egg handling (The video did show an egg boiler) without cracks. Considering how much manufacturing Tesla does, they know as well as anybody which roles are important to replace with robots first or which roles might be most suited for a humanoid robot to complete. They’re teaching a humanoid robot to place electric battery cells from a rack into a container and it’s being instructed by humans which are completing the task next to it. After learning the system can become autonomous in real time and has some degree of artificial intelligence to the capacity it’s able to correct when it makes a simple error. Online commenters have mocked this task claiming that battery placement could be done by a cheaper two axis robot but it’s only demonstrating early cap capabilities in a simpler environment things are going to get complex faster than you can imagine
Phoenix – Sanctuary AI
Phoenix has been developed by Sanctuary AI again with a very high concentration on AI capabilities here it’s demonstrating potential medical applications AI is important in these systems because many simple tasks require higher orders of reasoning for example just emptying a simple grocery bag requires an understanding of the space available in the fridge relative to the objects being put inside which objects can be nudged moved adjusted and what might be fragile or brittle they call their software carbon Ai and it’s developed inhouse designed to blend the benefits of symbolic and neural reasoning while mitigating the challenges of both I’m not a software guy but my interpretation is that means they’re using cameras to understand the world around it and also some type of language model which has an understanding of different objects and their meaning in society
Walker S – Ubtech
Capable of complex tasks like folding, this Chinese company has integrated a language model so that you can interact with the robot by talking to it and get basic responses. They ask what pants might go good with a shirt the robot folded and the robot replies a dark color would be nice. If you look closely you can see the top left corner of the shirt is not quite folded perfectly. Considering they left this in the final cut of the video I imagine this took many tries. This robot has also been introduced to automotive production enviroments where it’s been employed as an inspection bot testing simple things like the seat belts. Cars and humanoid robots seem separate seated by The hip, almost every major auto manufacturer is either building buying or partnering with some type of humanoid robotics.
THR3 – Toyota
Toyota’s also got a contestant in the humanoid robot race called the THR3. it’s demonstrated having tele-operation with a person wearing typical goggles that we’ve seen other companies use and gloves set up with integrated arms to control the robot. THR3 is able to do tasks like manipulate arubber ball without losing grip on it.
Surena IV – University of Tehran
University of Tehran is among the groups working on humanoid robots for an extended period per of time, this experience has culminated into Serena 4 their latest iteration of humanoid robot that seems to be able to copy human movements and complete a variety of tasks which include drilling. This is particularly exciting for our long-term audience because they know automation in construction is our primary concentration. I ultimately believe humanoid robots are going to be important on construction sites around the world, especially in areas with skilled labor shortages. Seeing a robot that can drill is one step closer to that construction automation dream. This robot’s also able to write its own name about as well as I could. With some handwriting and construction classes this could get interesting
Robonaut – NASA
Project over a decade old which they supposedly were going to send to space to help the astronauts, though I couldn’t find any footage of the system operating in space conditions.
Digit – Agility Robotics
Digit by Agility Robotics is starting with logistics and warehouse tasks, mostly picking and placing objects with its claw-like hands. They’ve made a deal with Amazon where they’re testing its capabilities in their Logistics departments Amazon employs over 750,000 robots and every year they’ve been accumulating more and more. An interesting aspect of this system is the reverse folding legs. Instead of bending forward the knee bends backward and there’s an additional support structure from the back of the knee to the gluteus maximus.
Atlas – Boston Dynamics
With hydraulic actuators, this system was among the first humanoid robots to walk and by far the most capable that people had seen in the past decade. It was capable of dynamic motion, flips, and a variety of services. Boston Dynamics was purchased by Google then sold to Hyundai and last week when they announced that Atlas would be retiring it was really a sad thing to see them giving up.
Atlas 2 – Boston Dynamics
It turns out they weren’t giving up on humanoid robots just hydraulic actuators they would move to Electric actuators in Atlas 2 for their back drivable capabilities which are much more applicable for the human task humanoid robots will be replacing I can’t wait to see what Atlas 2 has in store for us.