UBTECH Walker X
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Last reviewed
Apr 26, 2026
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| Developer | UBTECH Robotics |
| Type | Humanoid robot |
| Generation | 3rd (Walker series) |
| Unveiled | July 2021 (WAIC, Shanghai) |
| Height | 130 cm (4 ft 3 in) |
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) |
| Degrees of Freedom | 41 |
| Walking Speed | 3 km/h (1.9 mph) |
| Payload | 10 kg total; 1.5 kg per arm extended, 3 kg per hand walking |
| Battery | Lithium 54.6V/10Ah; ~2 hours runtime |
| Sensors | Dual RGB-D, LiDAR, IMU, force sensors, stereo cameras |
| Computing | 2x Intel i7-8665U, NVIDIA GT1030 |
| Software | ROSA framework, Ubuntu/Linux RT, ROS compatible |
| Country of Origin | China |
UBTECH Walker X is a bipedal humanoid robot developed by UBTECH Robotics, a robotics company headquartered in Shenzhen, China. Unveiled at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Walker X represented the third major iteration of the Walker platform and served as the company's flagship service humanoid robot at the time of its release. The robot features 41 high-performance servo joints, 7-degree-of-freedom arms, 6-degree-of-freedom force-controlled hands, and a comprehensive sensor suite that enables it to perform a wide range of household and service tasks, from playing chess and serving tea to giving massages and performing yoga poses.
Walker X was designed to demonstrate UBTECH's vision of bringing intelligent robots into homes and businesses, showcasing advanced manipulation, autonomous navigation, and natural human-robot interaction. The robot served as a guide at the China Pavilion during Expo 2020 Dubai and was exported to NEOM, Saudi Arabia's planned smart city, marking some of UBTECH's earliest international deployments of full-sized humanoid robots.
UBTECH Robotics Corp Ltd (stock code: 9880.HK) was founded in March 2012 by Zhou Jian, known internationally as James Zhou, in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Zhou had been working on robotic servo motor technology since 2008, and this early expertise in miniaturized actuators became the foundation for the company's humanoid robot systems. UBTECH's core competitive advantage stemmed from developing proprietary digital servo systems at significantly lower cost than Japanese and European imports, reducing per-unit servo costs from approximately $2,000-$4,000 to a fraction of that price.[1][2]
Before developing the Walker series, UBTECH established itself in consumer and educational robotics with the Alpha series of small programmable humanoid robots (launched 2015-2016), the Jimu Robot snap-together building block kits, and a licensed Star Wars Stormtrooper Robot produced in partnership with Disney. In 2017, UBTECH introduced Cruzr, a cloud-based commercial service robot designed for retail, hospitality, and healthcare environments, which sold over 2,100 units by 2019.[3]
The company raised approximately US$820 million in a Series C funding round led by Tencent Holdings in May 2018, valuing it at around US$5 billion. On December 29, 2023, UBTECH became the first humanoid robot company to complete an initial public offering when it listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising approximately HK$1 billion (roughly US$130 million) with a market capitalization of about US$4.8 billion. In a notable moment, UBTECH's Walker S humanoid robot struck the listing gong alongside founder James Zhou, the first time a humanoid robot rang the opening bell at the HKEX in its 132-year history.[4][5]
The Walker X emerged from a lineage of iterative development that began with the original Walker platform in 2018.
| Model | Year | Height | Weight | DOF | Key Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker (1st gen) | 2018 | ~120 cm | ~37 kg | Legs only | First bipedal consumer robot; CES 2018 debut |
| Walker (2nd gen) | 2019 | 145 cm | 77 kg | 36 | Added arms, hands, torso, head; CES 2019 Best of CES finalist |
| Walker X | 2021 | 130 cm | 63 kg | 41 | Force-controlled hands, chess playing, massage, household tasks; WAIC 2021 |
| Walker S | 2023 | 170 cm | N/A | 41 | Industrial-grade; NIO factory deployment |
| Walker C | 2024 | 163 cm | 43 kg | 20 | Commercial service; Osaka Expo 2025 |
| Walker S1 | 2024 | 172 cm | 76 kg | 41 | LLM task planning; BYD/Foxconn deployment |
| Walker S2 | 2025 | 176 cm | N/A | 52 | Autonomous battery swap; mass production |
Walker (1st generation, CES 2018): UBTECH announced the original Walker at CES 2018 in January, describing it as "the world's first bipedal intelligent humanoid robot for consumers." This initial version was essentially a pair of bipedal legs without arms, designed to demonstrate walking, stair navigation, and basic voice interaction. It weighed approximately 82 pounds and featured a built-in camera for security monitoring.[6]
Walker (2nd generation, CES 2019): At CES 2019, UBTECH revealed a dramatically upgraded Walker that had "spent the last 12 months growing a pair of hands and arms," as one tech journalist described it. The new version stood 4.75 feet (145 cm) tall, weighed 170 pounds (77 kg), and featured 36 high-performance actuators, a full upper body with arms and grasping hands, refined self-balancing, and multi-modal interaction through voice, vision, and touch. Walker was named a finalist for the Best of CES 2019 award. At CES 2020, Walker returned with further improvements including the ability to pour drinks, perform yoga poses, draw pictures, write characters, play piano, and push a cart.[7][8][9]
Walker X (2021): Walker X represented the most significant upgrade to the service-oriented Walker platform, adding 41 degrees of freedom (up from 36), redesigned force-controlled hands, advanced hand-eye coordination, and a comprehensive sensor suite.
UBTECH officially unveiled Walker X at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai in July 2021. The event served as a major showcase for the robot's expanded capabilities, with live demonstrations that attracted significant attention from attendees and media.[10]
At WAIC 2021, Walker X demonstrated a range of tasks that highlighted its improved dexterity, balance, and intelligence:
Following its WAIC debut, Walker X was deployed as a guide at the China Pavilion during Expo 2020 Dubai, which opened on October 1, 2021. As the Official Partner of AI Robotics for the China Pavilion, UBTECH deployed Walker X alongside its Panda Robot (a panda-themed humanoid based on Walker technology). Walker X served as an "Intelligent Guide," introducing guests to China's technological achievements in space exploration, including the China Space Station, Chang'e-5 lunar mission, Tianwen-1 Mars mission, and the BeiDou satellite navigation system. The Panda Robot demonstrated traditional Chinese arts such as Tai Chi and calligraphy.[12]
Two Walker X units were exported to NEOM, Saudi Arabia's planned $500 billion megacity project. Named Apollo and Artemis after the twin siblings of Greek mythology, these robots became the first generation of large humanoid robots deployed in NEOM, described as the "City of the Future." The deployment represented one of UBTECH's earliest international placements of full-sized humanoid robots and helped establish the company's presence in the Middle East market, which would later expand significantly.[13]
Walker X stands 130 cm (approximately 4 feet 3 inches) tall and weighs 63 kg (139 pounds). This represented a notably more compact form factor compared to the 2019 Walker (145 cm, 77 kg), reflecting a design optimization that reduced weight while increasing the number of degrees of freedom from 36 to 41. The robot's proportions approximate those of a small adult or older child, making it suitable for operating in standard human environments including homes, offices, and exhibition spaces.
Walker X features 41 high-performance servo joints distributed across its body:
| Body Part | Degrees of Freedom |
|---|---|
| Each leg | 6 DOF |
| Each arm | 7 DOF |
| Each hand | 6 DOF (force-controlled) |
| Neck | 3 DOF |
| Total | 41 DOF |
The 7-DOF arms provide human-like reach and flexibility, while the 6-DOF force-controlled hands enable dexterous manipulation of objects. The hands feature individual fingers capable of grasping, squeezing, and performing fine motor tasks such as opening bottle caps and handling delicate items.
The robot is powered by UBTECH's proprietary high-torque servo motors, with a torque range spanning 4.5 Nm to 200 Nm and rotational speeds between 30 and 90 rpm. UBTECH is one of the few companies globally to have achieved mass production of servo actuators across such a wide torque range, with total production exceeding one million units across all products. These servos serve as the joint mechanisms providing force, speed, and precision for both locomotion and manipulation.[14]
| Category | Specification | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Physical | Height | 130 cm (4 ft 3 in) |
| Physical | Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) |
| Mobility | Total degrees of freedom | 41 |
| Mobility | DOF per arm | 7 |
| Mobility | DOF per hand | 6 (force-controlled) |
| Mobility | DOF per leg | 6 |
| Mobility | Neck DOF | 3 |
| Mobility | Maximum walking speed | 3 km/h (1.9 mph) |
| Mobility | Stair climbing | Yes (up to 15 cm step height) |
| Mobility | Maximum slope angle | 20 degrees |
| Mobility | Terrain adaptability | Up to 3 cm uneven surfaces |
| Manipulation | Arm payload (extended) | 1.5 kg per arm |
| Manipulation | Hand payload (walking) | 3 kg per hand |
| Manipulation | Total carrying capacity | 10 kg |
| Manipulation | Arm reach | 600 mm per arm |
| Manipulation | Fingers per hand | 5 |
| Sensors | Vision system | Four-eye system with dual RGB-D cameras |
| Sensors | LiDAR | Yes |
| Sensors | IMU | Yes |
| Sensors | Force/torque sensors | Yes (hands and arms) |
| Sensors | Ultrasonic sensors | Yes |
| Sensors | Temperature sensors | Yes |
| Navigation | Localization accuracy | 10 cm |
| Navigation | Navigation accuracy | 20 cm |
| Navigation | Fine localization accuracy | 1 cm |
| Display | Face display | 160-degree 4.6K HD dual flexible curved screen |
| Display | Facial expressions | 28+ emotional expression modes |
| Power | Battery | Lithium 54.6V / 10Ah (3.6 kg) |
| Power | Runtime | ~2 hours |
| Power | Charging time | ~2 hours |
| Computing | Processor | 2x Intel Core i7-8665U (1.9 GHz) |
| Computing | GPU | NVIDIA GT1030 (384 CUDA cores) |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi | 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz) |
| Connectivity | Ethernet | Gigabit RJ45 |
| Connectivity | Internal bus | EtherCAT high-speed real-time bus |
| Connectivity | USB | USB 3.0 |
| Software | Framework | ROSA (Robot Operating System Architecture) |
| Software | Operating systems | Ubuntu, Linux RT Preempt, Android |
| Software | Simulation | Webots |
| Software | ROS compatible | Yes |
Walker X employs a "four-eye" vision system consisting of dual RGB-D (color plus depth) cameras that provide stereoscopic perception for object recognition, 3D environmental mapping, and safe obstacle detection. The sensor suite is complemented by LiDAR for precise distance measurement, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for orientation tracking, force and torque sensors in the hands and arms for compliant manipulation, ultrasonic sensors for proximity detection, and temperature sensors.[15]
The robot uses UBTECH's proprietary U-SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) navigation system for autonomous indoor positioning and path planning. U-SLAM achieves a localization accuracy of 10 cm and a navigation accuracy of 20 cm in general operation, with fine localization accuracy reaching 1 cm for precision tasks. The system incorporates 2.5D obstacle avoidance technology, enabling Walker X to detect and navigate around objects at various heights rather than just at a single plane.[15]
One of Walker X's distinctive features is its 160-degree 4.6K HD dual flexible curved screen mounted on the head, which wraps around the face area to create an expressive display surface. The screen can render 28 or more distinct emotional expression modes, allowing Walker X to convey happiness, curiosity, concentration, and other states during human interaction. The display is paired with a "4-dimensional light language system" that uses lighting patterns to communicate the robot's status and intentions.[15]
Walker X runs on a dual Intel Core i7-8665U processor configuration (1.9 GHz each) paired with an NVIDIA GT1030 GPU with 384 CUDA cores. This computing platform handles the robot's perception pipeline, navigation algorithms, motion planning, and interaction logic. The system runs UBTECH's proprietary ROSA (Robot Operating System Architecture) framework on Ubuntu and Linux RT Preempt for real-time motor control, with Android support for application-layer functions.[15]
The robot is powered by a removable lithium battery rated at 54.6V/10Ah, weighing 3.6 kg. The modular battery design allows for convenient swapping, providing approximately 2 hours of combined working runtime with a charging time of roughly 2 hours. The battery's removable design was a practical consideration for service environments, enabling operators to swap batteries and keep the robot operational for extended periods.[15]
Walker X runs on UBTECH's ROSA (Robot Operating System Architecture) framework, which provides an integrated software stack covering motion planning and control, computer vision, SLAM navigation, and human-robot interaction. ROSA is designed as a modular platform that allows researchers and developers to build custom applications on top of Walker X's capabilities.
The robot supports development in multiple programming languages including C, C++, Python, and MATLAB, and is compatible with ROS (Robot Operating System), the widely used open-source robotics middleware. This ROS compatibility makes Walker X accessible to the large community of robotics researchers already familiar with the ROS ecosystem. UBTECH provides a secondary development interface and documentation, along with support for third-party hardware integration including Arduino and Raspberry Pi modules. The Webots simulation platform is supported for testing and developing behaviors in a virtual environment before deploying them on the physical robot.[16]
Walker X also integrates AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) smart home device control, allowing it to serve as a hub for connected home devices and enabling scenarios where the robot can control lights, appliances, and other smart home systems through voice commands or autonomous decision-making.
Walker X has been positioned as a research platform for universities and institutions studying bipedal locomotion, manipulation, human-robot interaction, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. The robot's open development environment, ROS compatibility, and comprehensive sensor suite make it suitable for a range of academic research projects. UBTECH has marketed Walker X through channels such as RobotLAB for higher education institutions.
The robot's demonstrated household capabilities (serving drinks, cleaning, operating appliances) position it for service applications in hospitality, healthcare, and corporate reception. Walker X's force-controlled hands enable safe human-robot interaction, a key requirement for robots operating in close proximity to people. The compliant control system allows the robot to sense external forces and stop safely before impact, preventing injury during unexpected contact.
Walker X has been widely used in exhibition and demonstration contexts, including the China Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, and various corporate events. These deployments serve both as showcases for UBTECH's technology and as data-gathering opportunities for improving the robot's real-world performance.
With its AIoT capabilities and household task proficiency, Walker X has been presented as a prototype for the "home butler" concept that UBTECH has pursued since the original Walker's 2018 debut. The robot can control connected home devices, monitor home environments through its camera system, and perform physical tasks such as fetching items, cleaning, and serving refreshments.
While Walker X itself was not a named CES Innovation Award Honoree, the Walker platform and the broader UBTECH product family have received significant recognition at the Consumer Electronics Show over multiple years:
Walker X occupies a specific niche within UBTECH's Walker product line as the service-oriented flagship, distinct from the later industrial-grade Walker S series.
| Feature | Walker (2019) | Walker X (2021) | Walker S (2023) | Walker S1 (2024) | Walker S2 (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | 145 cm | 130 cm | 170 cm | 172 cm | 176 cm |
| Weight | 77 kg | 63 kg | N/A | 76 kg | N/A |
| Degrees of Freedom | 36 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 52 |
| Hand DOF | Basic grasping | 6 DOF force-controlled | Force feedback | Force feedback | Enhanced |
| Walking Speed | N/A | 3 km/h | N/A | 5.4 km/h (1.5 m/s) | N/A |
| Payload | N/A | 10 kg total | N/A | 15 kg | 15 kg |
| AI Integration | Basic | U-SLAM, visual servo | Multi-modal sensing | LLM-based task planning | Co-Agent system |
| Primary Application | Home assistant | Service / research | Industrial manufacturing | Industrial manufacturing | Industrial (mass production) |
| Battery Swap | No | Manual modular | No | No | Autonomous (3 min) |
The transition from Walker X to the Walker S series in 2023 marked a strategic pivot for UBTECH from service-oriented humanoids to industrial-grade robots designed for deployment on automotive assembly lines. While Walker X focused on demonstrating household and hospitality capabilities, the Walker S variants were engineered for factory environments with higher payload capacities, taller statures for working alongside human factory workers, and integration with industrial systems.
At the time of Walker X's 2021 unveiling, the humanoid robot landscape included relatively few full-sized bipedal platforms with comparable manipulation capabilities.
| Robot | Developer | Height | DOF | Key Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker X | UBTECH | 130 cm | 41 | Force-controlled hands, household tasks, affordable servos |
| Atlas | Boston Dynamics | 150 cm | 28 | Dynamic athletics, parkour, research-only |
| ASIMO | Honda | 130 cm | 57 | Pioneer humanoid (retired 2022) |
| Pepper | SoftBank Robotics | 120 cm | 20 | Social interaction, wheeled base (not bipedal) |
| Digit | Agility Robotics | 175 cm | 16+ | Logistics-focused bipedal |
| CyberOne | Xiaomi | 177 cm | 21 | Announced August 2022 |
Walker X distinguished itself through its combination of bipedal locomotion with dexterous force-controlled manipulation at a price point accessible to research institutions, a segment where few competitors offered similar capability. While Boston Dynamics' Atlas was more athletically capable, it remained a research platform not available for commercial purchase. Honda's ASIMO, which shared Walker X's 130 cm height, was retired in March 2022 after over two decades of development.
Walker X represented a significant milestone in UBTECH's development trajectory. It was the most advanced service-oriented humanoid the company had produced, and its capabilities in manipulation, navigation, and human interaction demonstrated that Chinese robotics firms could develop humanoid platforms competitive with those from established players in the United States, Japan, and Europe.
The robot also served as a technology testbed whose lessons informed the development of the later Walker S industrial series. The force-controlled hand technology, servo actuator designs, and ROSA software framework that were refined through Walker X development carried forward into the Walker S, S1, and S2 models that UBTECH would deploy in automotive factories operated by BYD, Foxconn, Geely, FAW Hongqi, and Audi FAW starting in 2023.[22][23]
By late 2025, UBTECH had begun mass production and delivery of several hundred Walker S2 industrial humanoid robots, with orders exceeding 800 million yuan (approximately US$112 million). The company was targeting annual production capacity of 5,000 units by 2026 and 10,000 units by 2027, goals that built directly on the foundation laid by the Walker X and its predecessors.[24]