AI² Robotics develops a wheeled mobile manipulator equipped with a humanoid torso and nimble five-fingered hands. The strategic decision to use a wheeled base over legged locomotion puts the company in the minority of Chinese firms developing humanoid-style robotics.
However, the mechanism features over 34 degrees of freedom and a custom waist-leg lifting mechanism that elevates the upper torso through a range of positions. While the robot can’t climb stairs or traverse rugged terrain, it is significantly cheaper to produce, mechanically durable, and faces much lower regulatory hurdles when deploying into public spaces.