A few months back, China's Robot Era demonstrated the strolling capabilities of its XBot-L humanoid by setting it loose on the Great Wall of China. Now the company has released video footage of two flagship Star1 models racing through the Gobi Desert.
Robot Era is a fairly recent addition to the humanoid robot space, having incubated from Tsinghua University in August 2023. But the company already has a number of humanoids in its robot ranks, has developed a dexterous human-like hand, and become quite adept at showing off its creations in fun promo videos.
The latest footage was shot late last month and features the company's new flagship humanoid robot, Star1. Well two of them actually, racing against each other on rocky routes, grassy vistas and winding roads along parts of the Gobi Desert. One runs "bare-footed" while the other benefits from a snazzy pair of sneakers.
Sadly, we don't know a great deal about the flagship running bot, but we can tell you that it stands 1.71 m tall (5.6 ft) and tips the scales at 65 kg (143 lb). Its odd running gait sees the body remain straight-backed upright while its jointed legs push out front in a style that would likely gain full approval from the Ministry of Silly Walks.
The company reports that the sneaker-clad humanoid started late but quickly caught its opponent before taking the lead, running at 3.6 meters per second (8 mph) for 34 minutes.
Both bots feature proprietary 400-Nm (295-lb.ft) motors that include "precision planetary reducers, high-precision encoders, and drivers" along with high-speed comms modules. AI computing at up to 275 tops helps them perceive the world around them and adjust to different terrain.
Robot Era says that the test run "will pave the way for its robots to be deployed in a number of scenarios" as part of its mission to bring general purpose humanoids powered by artificial intelligence into household and workplaces.
And the rush is on to tap into what's expected to be a very lucrative market, with the Star1 just the latest in an increasingly long line of hopefuls from the likes of Tesla, Figure, Unitree and Fourier – to name a few.
Source: Robot Era
