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| Muks Spaceo M1 | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Manufacturer | Muks Robotics |
| Country of origin | India |
| Year unveiled | 2025 |
| Status | In production |
| Locomotion | Wheeled |
| Price | ~$11,000 USD |
| Website | muksrobotics.com |
The Spaceo M1 is an autonomous social humanoid robot developed by Muks Robotics, a Pune-based artificial intelligence and robotics company in India. Unveiled alongside the industrial Spaceo Pro at the India Today Conclave in March 2025, the Spaceo M1 is designed for customer-facing service roles in airports, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, and corporate offices. It represents the service-oriented entry point in the Spaceo product line, which also includes the heavy-duty Spaceo Pro and the in-development Spaceo Prime bipedal robot intended for planetary exploration.[1][2][3]
The M1 stands 1,625 mm tall, weighs approximately 45 kg, and moves on a wheeled base at speeds up to 1.5 m/s. It runs the company's proprietary FusionMax Omni-Modal AI system entirely on-device, enabling multilingual conversation in over 85 languages, emotion recognition, autonomous navigation, and real-time decision-making without reliance on cloud connectivity. Priced at approximately $11,000 USD, the Spaceo M1 is positioned as an affordable social humanoid targeting mass production for the Indian and global service industries.[1][4][5]
In February 2026, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) deployed the Spaceo M1 on a pilot basis at Pune Airport, where it guided passengers, provided real-time flight information, and transported luggage, marking one of the first public trials of an Indian-made humanoid robot in a live airport environment.[6][7]
Muks Robotics (formally registered as Muks Robotics AI Pvt. Ltd.) was founded in 2021 by Dr. Mukesh Bangar and is headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, India. The company name "MUKS" stands for Machine Understanding and Knowledge Synthesis. Dr. Bangar is a self-taught AI and robotics engineer who originally trained in medical science (dentistry) before transitioning to robotics research in 2018. He spent over a decade studying core cognitive processes, including consciousness, learning, imagination, reasoning, and machine self-awareness, and published two foundational research papers: Thinking Circuit (2013) and Cognitive Model of Consciousness in Toto (2017). These papers inform the company's philosophical and technical approach to machine intelligence.[8][9][10]
Muks Robotics operates as a full-stack robotics company, handling all research, design, and manufacturing in-house. The company's stated mission is "to build fully autonomous humanoids for Earth and beyond," with a long-term vision described as creating "a suffering-free world through robotics." As of 2025, the company remains unfunded (bootstrapped) and has not raised any external venture capital. Despite this, it has reported rapid revenue growth and secured enterprise clients including Tata Motors, Indian Railways, Adani Wilmar, CG Power, and Parker Hannifin. Tracxn data ranks Muks Robotics among the top 25 active competitors globally in the humanoid robotics space.[8][9][11]
Beyond the Spaceo humanoid line, Muks Robotics also develops the DeepVision Pro AI-powered machine vision system for industrial defect detection, the WatchMan intelligent surveillance platform for AI-powered video analytics, and the Guardeo quadruped robot dog for security and surveillance applications.[10][12]
The Spaceo product line evolved through several phases of development at Muks Robotics:[8][9]
The India Today Conclave demonstration brought significant public attention to the company. During a session titled "Robo Soldiers & Cyber Hounds," the Spaceo humanoid and Guardeo robot dogs performed synchronized dances on stage, with Dr. Bangar presenting the company's vision for autonomous robotics. Videos of the robots engaging with audiences circulated widely on social media and Indian news outlets.[3][13]
The Spaceo series comprises three distinct variants, each targeting a different market segment:
| Variant | Role | Locomotion | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spaceo M1 | Social interaction and service | Wheeled | In production |
| Spaceo Pro | Industrial automation and logistics | Wheeled | In production |
| Spaceo Prime | Planetary exploration and extreme environments | Bipedal | In development (target: 2032) |
All three variants share the FusionMax AI core but differ in their physical capabilities, sensor configurations, and target markets. The M1 serves as the lightweight, affordable service robot, while the Pro handles heavy industrial workloads with its 200 kg payload capacity. Spaceo Prime is the most ambitious variant, designed for autonomous sample collection, environmental analysis, and infrastructure assistance on the Moon and Mars. Dr. Bangar has stated: "Robots will be the first settlers on Mars. They will gather data, prepare habitats, and support human crews that come later."[2][14][15]
The Spaceo M1 features a compact wheeled humanoid form factor standing 1,625 mm tall, 420 mm wide, and 390 mm deep, with a total weight of approximately 45 kg including the battery. The body is constructed from an aluminum frame with polymer covers, giving it a lightweight yet durable build suitable for continuous operation in public spaces. The robot's design prioritizes approachability and safety in human-facing environments, with soft composite materials and rounded surfaces to minimize collision risk.[1][4]
The M1 includes a 7-inch LED touch display mounted on its chest or torso area, which serves as a primary interface for visual communication with users. This display can show flight information, wayfinding maps, promotional content, or interactive menus depending on the deployment context. The robot also features expressive LED communication interfaces and can produce facial expressions and hand gestures to enhance its social interaction capabilities.[1][4][5]
Compared to the Spaceo Pro, the M1 is notably lighter (45 kg versus 65 kg) and shorter (1,625 mm versus the Pro's adjustable 1,670 to 2,100 mm height). This smaller form factor makes the M1 better suited for navigating crowded public spaces such as airport terminals, retail stores, and hotel lobbies where maneuverability is more important than raw lifting power.[1][2]
The Spaceo M1 is equipped with two articulated arms, each featuring 5 degrees of freedom. Each arm has a combined forearm and upper arm length of 600 mm, providing sufficient reach for tasks such as handing items to users, pointing directions, or carrying luggage. The arms terminate in 5-finger grippers on each hand (10 fingers total), enabling the robot to grasp and manipulate objects of various shapes and sizes.[1][4]
The M1 can carry luggage and goods weighing up to 50 to 60 kg via its trolley attachment or trunk platform, with a reported peak lifting capacity of 100 kg under optimal conditions. While these numbers are significantly lower than the Spaceo Pro's 200 kg platform payload, they are more than adequate for the M1's intended service applications such as transporting passenger luggage at airports or delivering supplies in hospitals.[1][4][5]
The robot uses low-inertia, high-speed brushless DC (BLDC) servo motors across its joints. These motors offer responsive movement with effective heat dissipation, which is important for a robot that may operate continuously for hours in public environments. Each joint includes a single encoder for position feedback.[1]
The M1 moves on a wheeled base with 2 degrees of freedom, providing a total of 12 degrees of freedom across all joints (5 per arm plus 2 in the base). Its maximum speed is 1.5 m/s (approximately 5.4 km/h or 3.4 mph). The wheeled design enables smooth, quiet movement across flat surfaces typical of airports, malls, and office buildings.[1][4]
The Spaceo M1 runs on an AMD Ryzen 7 processor paired with 16 GB of RAM and a 500 GB SSD for its standard computing module. For AI inference workloads, the robot is equipped with either an NVIDIA Jetson Orin AGX module (delivering approximately 275 TOPS of INT8 AI inference performance) or an NVIDIA RTX 5070, depending on the configuration. This combination allows the robot to run complex computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, and motor control workloads simultaneously, all on-device without requiring cloud connectivity.[1][4]
The entire software stack runs on a Linux-based operating system, with the FusionMax AI layer handling high-level reasoning, perception, and action planning on top of the base OS.[1][5]
At the core of the Spaceo M1's intelligence is FusionMax, Muks Robotics' proprietary omni-modal AI system. FusionMax is described as a Vision-Audio-Language-Action (VALA) model with 2 billion optimized parameters trained on real-world data. Unlike general-purpose large language models, FusionMax is purpose-built for robotics applications, integrating perception (vision and audio), language comprehension, and physical action planning into a unified system.[2][10][12]
Key capabilities of FusionMax on the M1 include:
Dr. Bangar has stated: "FusionMax was designed to bring intelligence closer to the edge. It allows our robots to think, adapt, and learn in real time, even in disconnected settings like outer space."[10]
Muks Robotics has also developed the Muks Core B1, which the company describes as the world's first artificial general intelligence (AGI) system designed specifically for robots. The Core B1 is a computing hardware platform composed of two main components: a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and an AGI software layer. This system is intended to serve as the next-generation intelligence backbone across the entire Spaceo product line, though specific deployment timelines and technical benchmarks have not been publicly detailed as of early 2026.[2][14]
The Spaceo M1 integrates multiple sensor modalities for environmental awareness and human interaction:
| Sensor | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| RGB camera | 5MP Full HD | Facial recognition, object detection, and visual scene understanding |
| Depth camera | Intel RealSense | 3D spatial perception, depth mapping, and obstacle detection |
| LiDAR | 2D LiDAR | Autonomous navigation, path planning, and obstacle avoidance |
| Microphone array | 4-channel with noise and echo cancellation | Voice command reception, speaker localization, and audio awareness |
| Tactile sensors | Gripper and body-mounted | Contact detection for safe object handling and collision avoidance |
The 2D LiDAR provides the M1 with continuous environmental scanning for navigation, while the Intel RealSense depth camera adds high-resolution 3D perception at closer ranges for object recognition and human interaction. The four-microphone array with noise and echo cancellation enables the robot to process voice commands even in the noisy environments typical of airports and shopping malls.[1][4][5]
The M1's sensor configuration differs from the Spaceo Pro, which uses a more advanced 4D LiDAR for industrial-grade environmental mapping. The M1's 2D LiDAR is sufficient for the relatively structured indoor environments where the robot operates, while keeping costs lower to maintain the $11,000 price point.[1][2]
| Category | Specification | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Physical | Height | 1,625 mm |
| Physical | Width | 420 mm |
| Physical | Depth | 390 mm |
| Physical | Weight (with battery) | ~45 kg |
| Physical | Body material | Aluminum frame with polymer covers |
| Mobility | Locomotion type | Wheeled |
| Mobility | Maximum speed | 1.5 m/s (5.4 km/h) |
| Mobility | Total degrees of freedom | 12 |
| Manipulation | Arm DOF | 5 per arm |
| Manipulation | Base DOF | 2 |
| Manipulation | Arm length | 600 mm (forearm + upper arm) |
| Manipulation | Carrying capacity | 50-60 kg (100 kg peak) |
| Manipulation | Fingers per hand | 5 (10 total) |
| Manipulation | Max arm torque | ~160 kg-cm |
| Actuators | Type | Low-inertia BLDC servo motors |
| Actuators | Encoder | Single encoder per joint |
| Computing | CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 |
| Computing | RAM | 16 GB |
| Computing | Storage | 500 GB SSD |
| Computing | AI module | NVIDIA Jetson Orin AGX (~275 TOPS) or RTX 5070 |
| Computing | AI system | FusionMax Omni-Modal AI (2B parameters) |
| Computing | Operating system | Linux-based |
| Sensors | RGB camera | 5MP Full HD |
| Sensors | Depth camera | Intel RealSense |
| Sensors | LiDAR | 2D |
| Sensors | Microphones | 4-channel array (noise/echo cancellation) |
| Audio | Speaker | 5W |
| Display | Touch display | 7-inch LED |
| Power | Battery | 25.6V, 45Ah LiFePO4 |
| Power | Active operation | Up to 6-8 hours |
| Power | Standby | 72 hours |
| Power | Charging | Autonomous docking station |
| Connectivity | WiFi | WiFi 6 (dual-band) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth | 5.2 |
| Software | OTA updates | Yes |
| Software | Languages supported | 85+ |
| Warranty | Coverage | 24 months |
The Spaceo M1 and Spaceo Pro share the FusionMax AI core and modular design philosophy but are optimized for fundamentally different use cases. The M1 is the service-oriented social humanoid, while the Pro is built for heavy industrial automation.
| Feature | Spaceo M1 | Spaceo Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary role | Social interaction and service | Industrial automation and logistics |
| Height | 1,625 mm (fixed) | 1,670-2,100 mm (adjustable) |
| Weight | ~45 kg | ~65 kg |
| Total DOF | 12 | 20 |
| Arm DOF | 5 per arm | 7 per arm |
| Hand DOF | Not specified | 7 |
| Waist DOF | None specified | 1 (rotation, 66 N-m torque) |
| Carrying capacity | 50-60 kg (100 kg peak) | 200 kg (platform) |
| Arm payload | Not specified | 10 kg per arm |
| Positioning accuracy | Not specified | +/- 2 mm |
| Maximum speed | 1.5 m/s | 2 m/s |
| LiDAR | 2D | 4D ultra-wide-angle |
| Depth camera | Intel RealSense | Intel RealSense D435i |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 | Intel Core i5 |
| AI module | Jetson Orin AGX or RTX 5070 | NVIDIA Ampere (2,048 CUDA, 64 Tensor cores) |
| AI performance | ~275 TOPS | 275 TOPS |
| Motor type | Low-inertia BLDC servo | Harmonic drive with dual encoders |
| Battery | 25.6V 45Ah LiFePO4 | Not specified |
| Battery life (active) | 6-8 hours | 4+ hours |
| Standby | 72 hours | Not specified |
| Display | 7-inch LED touch | None specified |
| Body material | Aluminum with polymer covers | Not specified |
| Charging | Autonomous docking | Autonomous charging |
| Languages | 85+ | Multilingual |
| Approximate price | ~$11,000 USD | ~$60,000 USD |
| Target markets | Hospitality, healthcare, retail, airports | Manufacturing, logistics, warehousing |
The most notable differences are in payload capacity, degrees of freedom, and price. The Spaceo Pro's 7-DOF arms with harmonic drive actuators and dual encoders provide the precision and strength needed for industrial pick-and-place operations, while the M1's 5-DOF arms with BLDC motors are sufficient for handing items to visitors, gesturing during conversation, and carrying luggage. The M1 compensates for its lighter build with a longer battery life (6 to 8 hours versus 4 hours for the Pro), a customer-facing touch display, and a price point roughly one-fifth that of the Pro.[1][2][4]
The Spaceo M1's most prominent deployment to date has been at airports. In February 2026, the Airports Authority of India deployed the robot at Pune Airport for an 8 to 10 day pilot trial. During the trial, the M1 was stationed on the arrivals side and performed over 35 independent tasks, including:[6][7][16]
Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke confirmed that the trial aimed to "evaluate the robot's technical reliability, crowd-handling ability and passenger response." If the trial proved successful, at least three M1 units would be needed for full airport coverage. Additional trials were planned for Pune Metro's Civil Court station in March 2026, with potential deployment at Navi Mumbai International Airport in the future. Future enhancements under consideration include the ability to scan boarding passes for instant gate information retrieval.[6][7][16]
In hotel environments, the M1 is designed to handle check-in assistance, concierge services, room directions, and personalized recommendations for guests. Its multilingual capabilities are particularly valuable in international hotel chains where guests speak diverse languages. In retail settings, the robot can assist shoppers with product information, store navigation, promotional offers, and restocking monitoring.[1][5][10]
In hospital and clinic environments, the Spaceo M1 can assist with patient wayfinding, appointment check-in, supply delivery between departments, and general information provision. Its ability to operate autonomously without cloud connectivity is relevant for healthcare settings where patient data privacy is a concern.[5][10]
The M1 can serve as an intelligent receptionist, handling visitor registration, employee notification, meeting room directions, and general workplace information. Its semantic learning capability allows it to build institutional knowledge over time, improving its effectiveness as it learns the specific layout and protocols of its deployment location.[1][4]
While primarily a service robot, the M1 includes sensor-based capabilities for detecting unusual activity during its patrols. This makes it a secondary security asset in the environments where it operates, complementing dedicated security systems rather than replacing them.[1][6]
The Spaceo M1's deployment at Pune Airport in February 2026 represented a significant milestone for both Muks Robotics and India's broader adoption of humanoid robots in public infrastructure. The trial was initiated by the Airports Authority of India and began on February 26, 2026.[6][7]
During the 8 to 10 day testing phase, the robot was evaluated across multiple airport zones, including the main entrance, check-in and check-out areas, boarding gates, and baggage claim sections. The M1 navigated these areas autonomously, interacting with passengers in multiple languages and providing assistance with flight information, directions, and luggage transport.[6][7][16]
The trial attracted significant media coverage in India, with outlets such as Pune Pulse, The Bridge Chronicle, VarIndia, and Electricity.com reporting on the deployment. The event was notable as one of the first instances of an Indian-designed and manufactured humanoid robot being trialed in a live public infrastructure setting managed by a government authority.[6][7][16]
Following the Pune Airport trial, Muks Robotics announced plans for additional public deployments, including a trial at Pune Metro's Civil Court station and potential integration at the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport. These plans indicate a broader strategy to establish the Spaceo M1 as a standard fixture in India's transportation infrastructure.[6][7]
The Spaceo M1 emerges within a rapidly growing Indian robotics industry that has seen increasing government support and private investment. India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has introduced schemes and incentives to support robotics innovation, and the country's "Make in India" initiative has encouraged domestic development of advanced technologies. The India robotics market in manufacturing alone reached 6,500 units in 2024, with projections of 26,700 units by 2033 at a compound annual growth rate of 16.7%.[17][18]
Several Indian companies are active in the robotics and humanoid space:
| Company | Location | Notable product | Focus area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muks Robotics | Pune | Spaceo M1, Spaceo Pro | Social and industrial humanoids |
| Addverb Technologies | Noida | ELIXIS-W | Warehouse robotics and humanoids |
| Invento Robotics | Bangalore | Mitra, Mini Mitra | Customer interaction and senior care |
| Genrobotics | Kerala | Bandicoot | Sewer-cleaning and bipedal R&D |
| Asimov Robotics | Kerala | Service robots | Hospitality and healthcare |
| Svaya Robotics | Hyderabad | Collaborative arms | Cobots for unstructured tasks |
| GMR Innovex | New Delhi | Airport robots | Aviation and passenger services |
Muks Robotics differentiates itself from these competitors by focusing specifically on mass-producible humanoid robots with in-house AI development and a vertically integrated design-to-manufacturing pipeline. The company's bootstrapped growth trajectory, achieving enterprise clients like Tata Motors and Indian Railways without external funding, is notable in an industry segment that typically requires significant capital investment. The $11,000 price point of the M1 also positions it as one of the more affordable social humanoids on the global market, potentially enabling wider adoption in cost-sensitive markets like India.[8][9][11]
In the global humanoid robot market, the Spaceo M1 competes primarily with other service-oriented social humanoids. Its price point of approximately $11,000 places it well below many international competitors, though direct comparisons are complicated by differences in capability, maturity, and deployment scale.
Relevant competitors in the social and service humanoid segment include SoftBank Robotics' Pepper (one of the earliest commercial social robots), UBTECH's Walker series, and various Chinese service robot manufacturers that have been scaling production rapidly. The M1's key competitive advantages are its low price point, its FusionMax on-device AI (which eliminates ongoing cloud computing costs), its broad multilingual support (85+ languages), and its positioning as an Indian-manufactured product eligible for "Make in India" procurement preferences.[1][2][17]
The M1's wheeled locomotion, while limiting its use on stairs or uneven terrain, is a deliberate design choice that reduces mechanical complexity, lowers cost, and improves reliability for the flat indoor environments where it is intended to operate. This trade-off distinguishes it from more expensive bipedal humanoids that prioritize terrain versatility over affordability.[1][2]