World’s first robot astronaut: China’s Engine AI plans to send humanoid into space

Chinese robotics company Engine AI has announced plans to send its humanoid robot, PM01, into space, aiming to create the world’s first robot astronaut. Partnering with commercial space firm Beijing Interstellar Human Spaceflight Technology (Interstellor), the initiative—called the Humanoid Robot Astronaut Exploration Program—will focus on adapting PM01 for the extreme conditions of space, including vacuum, microgravity, temperature fluctuations, and radiation. Engine AI emphasizes that space missions demand exceptional stability, adaptability, and autonomous decision-making from robots, and the collaboration will work to enhance PM01’s resilience and independent operational capabilities for complex tasks in orbit. The PM01 humanoid robot is a compact, 1.38-meter-tall platform weighing about 40 kilograms, designed with a bionic structure and advanced sensors such as an Intel RealSense depth camera for spatial awareness. It features a dual-chip architecture combining NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Intel N97 CPUs to manage perception and motion control in real time. Engine