Articles tagged with "bipedal-robot"
Xpeng's IRON humanoid robot with catwalk stumbles at stage event
Xpeng, the Chinese electric vehicle maker, recently showcased its second-generation IRON humanoid robot at a Shenzhen shopping mall, demonstrating advances in movement, balance, and humanlike interaction ahead of a planned mass rollout in 2026. The robot impressed audiences with a fluid, model-like catwalk enabled by a five-degree-of-freedom spine and sophisticated hip structure, as well as a 3D-printed fascia layer that mimics human musculature to smooth movements and reduce vibrations. Standing 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 154 pounds, IRON features 62 active joints and 22 degrees of freedom in each hand, allowing for precise and natural motions. Its dynamic facial display and soft synthetic skin contribute to a warmer, more approachable design intended for retail and home environments. Despite the smooth initial demonstration, IRON lost its balance and fell backward on stage, an incident quickly caught by staff and widely shared online, sparking significant discussion about the challenges still facing humanoid robotics.
robothumanoid-robotXpengbipedal-robotsynthetic-skinrobotics-technologyhumanoid-designFall-safe bipedal robot enables real-world reinforcement learning
Researchers at the University of Illinois’ Kinetic Intelligent Machine LAB (KIMLAB) have developed a novel bipedal robot platform, called HybridLeg, designed to advance real-world reinforcement learning by enabling safe falls and autonomous recovery. The robot features a unique hybrid leg mechanism combining serial and parallel linkages—a five-bar closed linkage actuated by 12 motors, with most motors concentrated near the pelvis to reduce leg mass and improve dynamic walking performance. This design reduces distal inertia, allowing more accurate physics modeling and efficient, agile locomotion. The robot is fully untethered, integrating onboard computing, sensing, and power systems, and includes a lantern-shaped, sensorized mechanical cover that protects it during falls and facilitates whole-body contact. The HybridLeg platform incorporates a multimodal fall detection system that fuses inertial, proprioceptive, and acoustic sensors alongside an improved stance phase detection algorithm. This enables the robot to detect falls, mitigate impact forces, and autonomously reset to a standing posture after each
roboticsbipedal-robotreinforcement-learninghybrid-leg-mechanismhumanoid-robotfall-detectionautonomous-recoveryVideo: Humanoid's Alpha reenacts Rowan Atkinson's Love Actually scene
Humanoid, a UK-based robotics firm, released a holiday video featuring its AI-powered humanoid robot HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal reenacting the iconic gift-wrapping scene from the 2003 Christmas film "Love Actually," originally performed by Rowan Atkinson. The one-and-a-half-minute video humorously mirrors the original scene’s tone, showing Alpha as a shop clerk who offers to gift-wrap a small robot. The robot’s exaggerated and increasingly elaborate wrapping, complete with festive decorations, highlights both comedic elements and the robot’s dexterity and learning process. The scene culminates with Alpha recognizing the excess and discreetly replacing the over-wrapped package with a simpler one, underscoring themes of adaptation, judgment, and the trial-and-error nature of teaching humanoid robots. HMND 01 Alpha, standing nearly six feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds, was built in just five months and achieved stable bipedal walking within 48 hours of assembly. The robot has logged
roboticshumanoid-robotAI-robotbipedal-robotrobot-dexterityrobotics-in-retailrobot-learningVideo: UK humanoid robot walks just 48 hours after final assembly
UK-based robotics firm Humanoid has developed the HMND 01 Alpha, a humanoid robot that achieved stable walking just 48 hours after final assembly, marking a significant acceleration in humanoid robot development. This rapid progress was enabled by precise digital design and extensive simulation-led training using Nvidia Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab, which condensed nearly 19 months of conventional training into two days. The robot stands 179 cm tall, features 29 degrees of freedom, supports a 15 kg bimanual payload, and is equipped with multiple sensors and onboard computing power from Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX and an Intel i9 processor. Designed for applications in manufacturing, logistics, and home assistance, the Alpha robot can perform complex movements such as walking, running, squatting, and recovering from external forces up to 350 Newtons. It also has object manipulation capabilities and can communicate through displays, audio, and LEDs. The KinetIQ reasoning framework enables advanced planning and interaction. Humanoid’s CEO Artem
roboticshumanoid-robotindustrial-automationassistive-roboticsAI-simulationNvidia-Jetsonbipedal-robotHumanoid says its first bipedal robot can start walking just 48 hours after assembly - The Robot Report
Humanoid, a London-based robotics company founded in 2024, has introduced its first humanoid bipedal robot, the HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal, developed from design to working prototype in just five months. Remarkably, the robot achieved stable walking within 48 hours after final assembly. Standing 179 cm tall with 29 degrees of freedom and a bimanual payload capacity of 15 kg, Alpha Bipedal is equipped with advanced sensors including six RGB cameras, depth sensors, a microphone array, and haptic and force sensors. Powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin AGX and Intel i9 processors, it offers three hours of swappable battery life. The robot can perform a variety of movements such as walking on straight and curved paths, turning, sidestepping, squatting, hopping, running, and precise manipulation, and it can interact with people and coordinate with other robots. Humanoid utilized ultra-precise 3D modeling and NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim
roboticshumanoid-robotbipedal-robotAIautomationNVIDIA-Jetsonreinforcement-learningChina's bipedal robot turns into lifelike dinosaur in stunning demo
Chinese robotics company LimX Dynamics has unveiled a bipedal robot capable of transforming into a life-sized, highly detailed Tyrannosaurus rex, showcased in a recent demonstration. Built on the TRON1 platform, the robot features a realistic dinosaur skin with sculpted head, arms, and tail, creating an immersive prehistoric appearance. The robot maintains balance and stability through advanced real-time posture adjustments and sensor networks, allowing it to withstand pushes and kicks without falling. It walks on two legs at a controlled speed of about 3.1 mph, suitable for crowded public spaces. The robot is designed primarily as a mobile interactive display for cultural tourism, aiming to attract visitors to museums and parks by offering a unique, educational experience of walking alongside a lifelike extinct animal. The TRON1 platform supports versatile mobility, including point-foot balance on uneven terrain and wheeled movement on smooth surfaces, and can accommodate different skins that are easily swapped to transform the robot into various creatures. LimX Dynamics plans to offer
roboticsbipedal-robotautonomous-robotsrobot-balance-controlinteractive-roboticsentertainment-roboticscultural-tourism-technologyUnitree unveils H2 humanoid robot with lifelike dance and combat moves
Unitree Robotics, a Chinese company often compared to Boston Dynamics, has unveiled its latest humanoid robot, the Unitree H2, in a promotional video released on October 20, 2025. Standing 5.9 feet tall and weighing 154 pounds, the H2 is the company’s most advanced humanoid to date, capable of performing complex, humanlike movements such as ballet spins, dance routines, and kickboxing maneuvers. The robot also demonstrated its ability to walk confidently alongside a human model on a fashion runway. Featuring a stylized silver human face with defined eyes, lips, and nose, the H2 closely mimics human expressions and boasts 31 degrees of freedom, enhancing its flexibility, joint control, and mechanical balance. Building on the success of its predecessor, the H1, which gained fame for its sprinting speed and spatial awareness during China’s 2024 Spring Festival Gala and won gold medals at the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games, the
roboticshumanoid-robotUnitree-Roboticsbipedal-robotrobot-dancerobot-combatrobot-technologyTesla's '2.5 gen' Optimus humanoid stumbles through its first demo
Tesla recently showcased an updated version of its Optimus humanoid robot, dubbed "version 2.5," clarifying that this iteration is an intermediate upgrade rather than a new generation. The gold-colored robot demonstrated limited real-world capabilities in a brief demo featuring xAI’s Grok voice assistant. During the demo, the robot responded hesitantly to voice commands and walked slowly, with Elon Musk noting it was still cautious about spatial awareness and would eventually move faster. Despite these incremental improvements, the robot showed little evidence of advanced autonomy or dexterous manipulation, and the video ended before any object retrieval was attempted. Visually, Optimus 2.5 features a smoother, more cohesive exterior with rounded edges, better-covered joints, and fewer visible seams and wires, marking a shift toward a more human-like silhouette. These design refinements aim to enhance both the robot’s mobility and its readiness for human environments. Tesla continues to emphasize Optimus as a key part of its long-term strategy, pairing
robothumanoid-robotTesla-Optimusrobotics-demoAI-assistantautomationbipedal-robotBuild Your Own Bipedal Robot
The article introduces MEVITA, a bipedal robot designed to be constructed using readily available parts from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. By leveraging commonly accessible components, MEVITA aims to democratize bipedal robotics research, making it feasible for hobbyists, students, and researchers without specialized resources to engage in this field. MEVITA is open-sourced, providing detailed instructions and design files to facilitate easy assembly and experimentation. This approach lowers the barrier to entry in bipedal robotics, encouraging broader participation and innovation. The project highlights the potential for accessible robotics development through the use of commercial off-the-shelf parts and open collaboration.
robotbipedal-robotroboticsopen-source-roboticsDIY-robotrobot-researche-commerce-partsUnique robot welded from online parts walks on two legs with ease
MEVITA is a newly developed open-source bipedal robot created by engineers at the University of Tokyo's JSK Robotics Laboratory. It addresses common challenges in DIY robotics platforms by combining durability, simplicity, and accessibility. Unlike many existing designs that rely on fragile 3D-printed parts or complex metal assemblies with hard-to-source components, MEVITA uses sheet metal welding to integrate complex shapes into just 18 unique metal parts, four of which are welded. This approach significantly reduces the number of components, making the robot easier to build using parts readily available through online e-commerce. The robot’s control system leverages advanced AI techniques, specifically reinforcement learning trained in simulation environments (IsaacGym and MuJoCo), before transferring the learned behaviors to the physical robot via Python scripts. This Sim-to-Real transfer enables MEVITA to walk effectively across diverse terrains such as uneven indoor floors, grassy fields, dirt, concrete tiles, and gentle slopes. Safety and control are enhanced by features including wireless
roboticsbipedal-robotopen-source-robotsheet-metal-weldingAI-control-systemreinforcement-learningrobot-assemblyChina's L7 humanoid hits 9 mph to become 'fastest bipedal robot'
China’s L7 humanoid robot has set a new benchmark as the fastest bipedal robot, capable of sprinting at speeds up to 14.4 km/h (9 mph). Standing 5.7 feet tall, the L7 combines impressive mobility with advanced dexterity, featuring 55 degrees of freedom and delivering up to 400 Nm of torque. This enables it to perform a wide range of tasks, from industrial operations like sorting, scanning, and using power tools, to athletic feats such as 360-degree spins and breakdancing. It can lift loads up to 44 pounds with both arms and demonstrates sophisticated visual recognition and manipulation skills, highlighting its potential for real-world applications in manufacturing, logistics, and service environments. The L7 represents a significant engineering advancement by integrating a unified “body plus brain” architecture that addresses the complexity challenges associated with scaling humanoid robots. This design allows it to execute both large-scale movements and fine motor tasks with remarkable coordination and control. A demonstration
robothumanoid-robotbipedal-robotroboticsindustrial-automationrobot-mobilityrobot-dexterity'Jake the Rizzbot' charms Austin with cowboy drip and Gen Z slang
“Jake the Rizzbot” is a humanoid robot gaining viral fame in Austin for its unique blend of cowboy style and Gen Z slang. The robot, a Unitree G1 model developed by China-based Unitree Robotics and released in May 2024, stands about 4 feet tall and weighs 77 pounds. While Jake’s movements are lifelike and AI-assisted, it is remotely controlled by a human operator who remains anonymous. Jake’s distinctive appearance includes a cowboy hat, silver chain, and Nike Dunks, and it engages passersby with confident walk and slang-filled greetings, often drawing crowds at popular Austin locations like Barton Creek Mall and downtown. Jake’s charm lies not only in its humanoid motion but also in its use of contemporary Gen Z and Gen Alpha vocabulary, which has sparked widespread amusement and curiosity on social media, with videos amassing millions of views. Despite occasional glitches such as battery issues and mixed public reactions—including a viral clip where Jake inadvertently upset a baby—the robot
robothumanoid-robotAI-avatarUnitree-Roboticsbipedal-robotremote-control-robotdeep-reinforcement-learning