#humanoid-robot

#humanoid-robot

Its name is Atlas, an all-electric humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics, the Massachusetts-based company and maker of the four-legged inspection robot, Spot, and the mobile warehouse robot, Stretch. Hyundai, which owns Boston Dynamics, unveiled the latest version of Atlas at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 5. During live demonstrations, Atlas was seen waving hello to its audience before moving car parts from one rack to another.

The hand has 22 active degrees of freedom, according to the company, allowing for precise and intricate finger movements. It mirrored my gestures as I wiggled my hand in front of its camera, getting everything mostly right, which was honestly pretty cool. Each fingertip contains a minicamera and over 1,000 tactile pixels so it can pick up objects with the appropriate amount of delicateness for the task at hand, like plucking a playing card from a deck and placing it gently on the table.

Humanoid robots from Unitree, Boston Dynamics, and UBTech are already showcasing where our future lies. However, they're still out of the reach of common tech enthusiasts. Unitree gave it their best shot at creating the affordable R1 humanoid robot priced at $6,000, but that is still on the higher side for most. Now, Beijing-based startup Noetix Robotics has created ripples in the humanoid sphere with its compact humanoid robot that asks a price tag you could ditch your next flagship smartphone purchase for.

Figure Robotics introduces Figure 03, an upgraded general-purpose humanoid robot that can clean houses, do laundry, wash plates, serve food, and more, as if it were a real human. A step up from its two other siblings, the recent model has redesigned hands with tactile sensors, which let its fingertips detect even the slightest pressure. It's because of this that the AI-powered robot can do house chores, as Figure 03 can sense when an object is slipping or when a light touch is needed.

Chinese tech behemoth Ant Group, which owns payment platform Alipay, has been showing off its first humanoid robot at tech conferences this month. It joins a growing wave of companies carving out space along a fresh frontier in automation by combining artificial intelligence with physical tech. Videos and news reports show Robbyant's R1 robot cooking for audiences at the IFA 2025 tech show in Berlin last week. What was on the menu? Shrimp, reportedly.

Presenting my portrait of His Majesty King Charles III is not just a creative act, it's a statement about the evolving role of AI in our society, and to reflect on how artificial intelligence is shaping the cultural landscape.