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| Robotera Star1 |
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The Robotera Star1 (stylized as STAR1) is a full-size, general-purpose humanoid robot developed by Robotera (Beijing Robot Era Technology Co., Ltd.), a Chinese robotics startup incubated by Tsinghua University. Launched in August 2024, the Star1 was the company's first product-grade humanoid platform. Standing 171 cm tall, weighing 63 kg, and equipped with 55 degrees of freedom, the Star1 set a world record for the fastest bipedal humanoid robot at 3.6 m/s (12.9 km/h, 8 mph), surpassing the previous record of 3.3 m/s held by Unitree's H1. In October 2024, two Star1 units raced through China's Gobi Desert, with a sneaker-wearing unit sustaining its peak speed for 34 continuous minutes across rocky paths, grassy patches, and winding desert roads. The Star1 was also the first humanoid robot to demonstrate chopstick manipulation, cooking dumplings and pouring wine with precision.
The Star1 has since been succeeded by the Robotera L7, which further increased the top speed to 4 m/s (14.4 km/h) while building on the Star1's mechanical and AI foundations.
Robotera, formally known as Beijing Robot Era Technology Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 星动纪元), was established in August 2023. The company was incubated by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghua University and is the sole humanoid robotics company in which Tsinghua University holds equity. Robotera is headquartered in Beijing.
The company was founded by Chen Jianyu, an assistant professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University's IIIS, where he works within the research team of Academician Yao Qizhi (Andrew Yao), a Turing Award laureate. Chen holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, where he studied under Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a pioneer in mechatronics control and model predictive control (MPC) algorithms. Chen has published more than 50 papers in leading robotics and artificial intelligence venues, including NeurIPS, ICML, ICRA, and IROS. He was named to Forbes China's "30 Under 30" list and was a finalist for the Outstanding Paper Award at RSS 2024.
Robotera's core team draws from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, the National University of Singapore, and Fortune 500 companies. Over 80% of the company's employees work in research and development.
Robotera positions itself as a provider of "full-stack technology for humanoid robots," developing proprietary hardware (actuators, dexterous hands, full-body platforms), the ERA-42 foundation model for embodied intelligence, and application software for commercial deployment.
Robotera has raised a total of approximately $267 million across multiple funding rounds, reaching a valuation exceeding 10 billion RMB (approximately $1.45 billion) by early 2026.
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investors | Notable Participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angel | January 2024 | Undisclosed | Lenovo Capital, Crystal Stream Capital, Tsinghua Holdings | |
| Pre-Series A | October 2024 | Undisclosed | Lenovo Capital, Golden Resources, Jinding Capital | |
| Series A | July 2025 | CDH Investments, Haier Capital | Houxue Capital, Meridian Capital, Crystal Stream Capital | |
| Series A+ | November 2025 | Geely Capital | BAIC Capital, Alibaba, Beijing AI Industry Investment Fund |
The participation of major automotive groups like Geely and BAIC reflects strong interest from China's vehicle manufacturers in humanoid robotics for factory automation. At the time of the Series A+ round, Robotera reported approximately $70 million in signed commercial orders for 2025.
Robotera's humanoid robot development progressed through several stages in rapid succession, reflecting the fast pace of China's humanoid robotics sector.
| Timeline | Milestone |
|---|---|
| August 2023 | Company founded; early humanoid prototype "Xiaoxing" debuts at the World Robot Conference in Beijing |
| May 2024 | Xiaoxing Max (also called XBot-L) becomes the first humanoid robot to walk the Great Wall of China, navigating uneven stone steps and dimly lit archways |
| August 2024 | Star1 launched as first product-grade humanoid; XHAND1 dexterous hand also debuts |
| October 2024 | Star1 sets world bipedal speed record at 3.6 m/s during Gobi Desert demonstration |
| Mid-2025 | Star1 demonstrates chopstick manipulation, cooking, and fine motor tasks |
| July 2025 | Q5 "Tiny-Waisted Pro" wheeled service robot launched for commercial deployment |
| August 2025 | L7 (Star1's successor) unveiled with improved speed (4 m/s), enhanced upper-body mobility, and integrated ERA-42 AI |
The Star1 stands 171 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall and weighs 63 kg with its battery installed. Its human-like proportions are designed to allow the robot to operate in environments built for people, including standard doorways, corridors, and workstations.
The robot's 55 degrees of freedom are distributed as follows:
| Body region | DOF | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Legs (total) | 12 | 6 DOF per leg; enables walking, running, jumping, squatting, and backflips |
| Waist | 3 | Provides flexible trunk rotation and bending for terrain adaptation |
| Neck | 2 | Supports head movement for visual tracking |
| Arms (total) | 14 | 7 DOF per arm; allows full-range reaching, lifting, and manipulation |
| Hands (total) | 24 | 12 active DOF per hand via XHAND1 dexterous hands |
| Total | 55 |
This high DOF count places the Star1 among the most articulated commercially available humanoid platforms, enabling simultaneous whole-body locomotion and fine manipulation.
The Star1's joints are driven by proprietary high-torque electric motors with the following performance characteristics:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum joint torque | 400 Nm |
| Peak rotational speed | 25 rad/s |
| Motor type | Precision planetary reducers with high-precision encoders and integrated drivers |
The 400 Nm torque figure is notably high for an electric humanoid of this weight class. By comparison, Unitree's H1 achieves 360 Nm peak torque at the knee, and Tesla's Optimus targets roughly 200 Nm across its joints. The high torque and fast rotational speeds give the Star1 the power needed for dynamic locomotion, including running, jumping, and rapid direction changes, while also supporting heavy-payload manipulation through the arms.
The Star1's hands are the Robotera XHAND1, a five-fingered dexterous robotic hand that is also sold separately as a standalone research product (available through distributors such as RobotShop).
| XHAND1 specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Active DOF | 12 per hand |
| Finger DOF distribution | 3 (thumb), 3 (index), 2 (middle), 2 (ring), 2 (pinky) |
| Drive type | Full-gear Quasi-Direct Drive; decoupled, locally positioned active joints |
| Single-finger load capacity | >5 kg |
| Four-finger load capacity | >20 kg |
| Full-hand load capacity | >24 kg |
| Tactile sensing | 270-degree three-dimensional encircling tactile array sensors on each fingertip; resolution of 12x10 per fingertip; senses tangential forces (X, Y) and normal force |
| Click speed | 10 clicks per second (comparable to professional esports gamers) |
| Control modes | Position control (low/high damping), current-loop force control, force-position hybrid control |
| Compatibility | Apple Vision Pro teleoperation; MANUS motion-capture gloves |
The XHAND1's laterally moving index finger enables twisting actions, while the thumb's "pinky position" capability improves grip stability for irregularly shaped objects. The hand's back-drivability provides impact resistance, a useful safety feature during physical human-robot interaction. The full direct-drive design, with no cables or tendons, eliminates the maintenance issues common in tendon-driven robotic hands and provides transparent force feedback suitable for reinforcement learning and imitation learning research.
The Star1 is equipped with an AI computing platform capable of 275 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), based on the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin module combined with Intel processors. This processing power far exceeds the 45 to 55 TOPS found in typical high-end laptops and allows the robot to run complex neural network models locally, without relying on cloud computing.
The onboard computing supports:
The Star1 is powered by Robotera's proprietary ERA-42, an end-to-end embodied intelligence model that serves as the robot's "embodied brain." ERA-42 is a vision-language-action (VLA) model that merges visual, proprioceptive, and language data streams for autonomous task sequencing.
Key capabilities of ERA-42 include:
The Star1 integrates a multi-sensor perception system for real-time 3D mapping and obstacle avoidance:
The sensor suite provides 360-degree spatial awareness, enabling the robot to operate safely in complex human environments without reliance on external compute infrastructure.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Battery life | Up to 240 minutes (4 hours) operational time |
| Payload capacity | 20 kg (both arms) |
| WiFi | Dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz |
| Bluetooth | Supported |
| Wired connectivity | USB and Ethernet ports |
| Software platform | Closed source (proprietary Robotera system) |
The 240-minute battery life is competitive within the humanoid robot market. The Unitree H1 offers approximately 120 minutes, while most comparable platforms fall in the 2 to 4 hour range.
| Specification | Star1 | L7 (successor) |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 171 cm | 171 cm |
| Weight | 63 kg | 65 kg |
| Total DOF | 55 | 55 |
| Leg DOF | 12 | 12 |
| Arm DOF | 14 | 14 |
| Hand DOF | 24 (XHAND1) | 24 (XHAND1) |
| Waist DOF | 3 | 3 |
| Neck DOF | 2 | 2 |
| Max speed | 3.6 m/s (12.9 km/h) | 4 m/s (14.4 km/h) |
| Max joint torque | 400 Nm | 400 Nm |
| Payload capacity | 20 kg | 20 kg |
| AI computing | 275 TOPS | 275 TOPS |
| AI model | ERA-42 | ERA-42 |
| Price | ~$96,000 | Not publicly disclosed |
In October 2024, Robotera released a video showing two Star1 units racing through the Hexi Corridor region of the Gobi Desert, navigating rocky paths, grassy areas, and winding roads. One unit wore sneakers while the other ran barefoot. The sneaker-wearing Star1 started behind its barefoot counterpart but quickly closed the gap and surged ahead, sustaining a peak speed of 3.6 m/s (8 mph) for 34 uninterrupted minutes. The run covered diverse terrain types and demonstrated the robot's ability to maintain balance and adapt its gait in real time using its reinforcement-learning-trained locomotion policy.
This performance broke the previous bipedal humanoid speed record of 3.3 m/s set by Unitree's H1 in March 2024. The demonstration also highlighted the practical impact of footwear on robotic locomotion: the sneaker-wearing unit consistently outperformed its barefoot counterpart, suggesting that appropriate foot coverings improve traction and energy transfer on natural terrain.
Before the Star1's launch, Robotera's earlier prototype, the Xiaoxing Max (also called XBot-L), became the first humanoid robot to successfully climb the Great Wall of China in May/June 2024. The robot navigated rugged, uneven stone steps, winding staircases, and dimly lit archways, demonstrating advanced dynamic balance and terrain adaptation capabilities. This milestone received international media coverage and helped establish Robotera's reputation in the humanoid robotics community.
In mid-2025, the Star1 became the first humanoid robot to demonstrate chopstick manipulation. Videos showed the robot using chopsticks with pinpoint accuracy to pick up and serve dumplings, steam buns, pour wine into glasses without spilling, and clink glasses in a toasting gesture. These demonstrations showcased the XHAND1's fine motor control and the ERA-42 model's ability to coordinate complex multi-step manipulation tasks that require precise force control and visual feedback.
The cooking demonstration was significant because chopstick use demands a level of dexterity that most robotic hands cannot achieve. It requires precise, coordinated finger movements with carefully modulated grip force to hold thin sticks and manipulate small, delicate food items.
Beyond straight-line running, the Star1 has demonstrated backflips, 360-degree spins, jumping, squatting, stair climbing, and smooth transitions between postures. These capabilities are trained through sim-to-real transfer, where locomotion policies are first optimized in simulated environments and then deployed on the physical hardware. The robot can walk and run stably on lawns, gravel paths, snow, sand, and paved roads.
Robotera targets automotive assembly and 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronics) manufacturing as primary application domains. On automotive assembly lines, the Star1 can bend and squat to complete precise assembly tasks in spaces designed for human workers. In 3C manufacturing, it performs assembly, quality inspection, packaging, and material handling. Industrial clients include Samsung, Geely, Renault, Lenovo, Haier, and TCL.
The Star1's autonomous navigation, object recognition, and dexterous manipulation capabilities make it suitable for warehouse operations. The robot can identify item types, perform precise grasping and handling, and navigate complex warehouse environments with obstacle avoidance. Robotera has deployed robotic solutions in logistics facilities in Shenzhen, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, and Beijing, reporting operational efficiency improvements of up to 70% in some scenarios. A collaboration with SF Express for cross-border logistics inspection has been deployed at customs facilities, with single orders exceeding 50 million RMB.
Robotera envisions future deployment in commercial services, domestic care, and elderly assistance. The Q5 service robot (a wheeled humanoid in the same product family) already targets these sectors, while the bipedal Star1 and L7 are positioned for environments where mobility over stairs, uneven floors, and cluttered spaces is required.
Robotera reports that nine of the world's ten most valuable technology companies are among its customers, and the XHAND1 dexterous hand is used for research at institutions including MIT and ByteDance's robotics laboratories. The company shipped over 200 humanoid robots in 2025 and reported over 500 total units shipped by the end of that year, with approximately 50% of units going to overseas customers.
The Star1 entered a rapidly expanding market for humanoid robots, particularly in China, where government policy support and manufacturing demand have driven explosive growth. Chinese companies shipped approximately 20,000 humanoid robots in 2025, with the market projected to grow 94% in 2026.
| Feature | Robotera Star1 | Unitree H1 | Tesla Optimus | Agibot A2 | UBTECH Walker S1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | 171 cm | 180 cm | 173 cm | ~170 cm | 170 cm |
| Weight | 63 kg | 47 kg | 72 kg | ~65 kg | 77 kg |
| Total DOF | 55 | 19 (H1) / 27 (H1-2) | 28+ | 53 | 41 |
| Max speed | 3.6 m/s | 3.3 m/s | ~1.8 m/s | ~2 m/s | ~1.2 m/s |
| Dexterous hands | XHAND1 (12 DOF/hand) | Optional Dex5-1 | Custom (11 DOF) | Custom | Custom |
| AI computing | 275 TOPS | Variable (i5/i7/Orin NX) | Custom FSD chip | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Price | ~$96,000 | ~$90,000 | Not yet sold | ~$14,500 | ~$99,000 |
| Primary market | Industry + research | Research | Factory automation | Industry | Industry + education |
Robotera's key differentiators include the Star1's high DOF count (55 vs. 19 to 41 for most competitors), its record-setting bipedal speed, the XHAND1's exceptional dexterity and load capacity, and the integrated ERA-42 AI model that supports rapid task learning without extensive re-programming. The company's academic roots at Tsinghua University provide strong ties to fundamental robotics research, while its backing from automotive companies (Geely, BAIC) signals a clear path toward industrial deployment.
However, Robotera faces intense competition. Unitree shipped over 5,500 humanoid units in 2025 and offers the G1 and R1 at much lower price points ($16,000 and $5,900 respectively). Agibot shipped over 5,100 units in 2025 and reached mass production scale, rolling out its 10,000th robot by early 2026. UBTECH has secured orders exceeding 500 units from automotive manufacturers. Tesla's Optimus, while behind on deployment numbers, benefits from the company's vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities.
The Star1 is part of a broader product family that spans bipedal humanoids, wheeled service robots, and standalone dexterous hands.
| Product | Type | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Star1 | Full-size bipedal humanoid | 55 DOF, 3.6 m/s speed, XHAND1 hands, 275 TOPS AI |
| L7 | Full-size bipedal humanoid (next-gen) | 55 DOF, 4 m/s speed, enhanced upper-body mobility, breakdancing capability |
| Q5 "Tiny-Waisted Pro" | Wheeled service humanoid | 44 DOF, 11-DOF "Fairy Hands," 37-language support, 4+ hour battery |
| M7 | Mid-size humanoid | Details pending |
| XHAND1 | Standalone dexterous hand | 12 active DOF, full direct drive, tactile sensing, sold separately |
Despite its capabilities, the Star1 has several notable limitations: