UBTECH Walker X

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The UBTECH Walker X is a full-size bipedal humanoid robot developed by UBTECH Robotics, a Shenzhen-based Chinese company, and unveiled at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai in July 2021.^[10][11] It stands 130 cm (4 ft 3 in) tall, weighs 63 kg (139 lb), and is built around 41 high-performance servo joints, with 7-degree-of-freedom arms and 6-degree-of-freedom force-controlled hands that let it walk on uneven ground, climb stairs, play chess, serve drinks, and avoid obstacles.^[10][15] At launch, Walker X was widely described as China's most advanced humanoid robot and was UBTECH's flagship service humanoid before the company pivoted to its industrial Walker S line in 2023.^[2][10]

UBTECH positioned Walker X as a demonstration of bringing intelligent robots into homes and businesses, showcasing advanced manipulation, autonomous navigation, and natural human-robot interaction. The company's official product page calls it "a highly advanced AI robot that incorporates six cutting-edge AI technologies" that, with "upgraded vision-based navigation and hand-eye coordination," can "provide intelligent and caring service across a variety of scenarios."^[15] Walker X 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.^[12][13]

What is the UBTECH Walker X?

Walker X is a bipedal humanoid robot, meaning it walks on two legs and has a human-like upper body with a head, torso, two arms, and two five-fingered hands. It represented the third major iteration of the Walker platform and served as UBTECH's flagship service humanoid 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.^[10][15]

The "X" generation focused on the service-oriented branch of the Walker family: a compact, expressive robot designed to operate safely around people in homes, offices, and exhibition spaces. This is distinct from the later Walker S series (2023 onward), which UBTECH engineered as taller, heavier industrial robots for automotive assembly lines.

Who makes the Walker X?

The Walker X is made by UBTECH Robotics Corp Ltd (stock code: 9880.HK), a Chinese AI and robotics company 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]

How did the Walker series evolve?

The Walker X emerged from a lineage of iterative development that began with the original Walker platform in 2018.

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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.

When and where was the Walker X unveiled?

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][11] Coverage of the launch described Walker X as having "took another step closer to becoming the gold standard in humanoid robotics," citing significant improvements in physical performance, autonomous intelligence, and human-robot interaction.^[10]

What can the Walker X do?

At WAIC 2021, Walker X demonstrated a range of tasks that highlighted its improved dexterity, balance, and intelligence:

• Chess playing: Walker X played chess in real time against human opponents, requiring precise hand-eye coordination to identify piece positions, plan moves, grasp individual chess pieces, and place them accurately on the board.
• Massage with compliant control: Using force feedback sensors in its hands and arms, Walker X demonstrated the ability to give massages with compliant force control, adjusting pressure based on sensed resistance to ensure safe and comfortable contact with humans.
• Yoga poses: The robot performed various yoga positions, including single-leg balancing and backward bending, demonstrating advanced whole-body balance control and joint flexibility.
• Household service tasks: Walker X served tea, poured liquids from bottles into cups, watered flowers, wiped surfaces, and operated a vacuum cleaner. The robot also demonstrated the ability to open bottle caps, a task requiring fine motor dexterity that is challenging for most robotic hands.
• Stair climbing and terrain navigation: The robot climbed stairs up to 15 cm in height, walked on slopes up to 20 degrees, and traversed uneven terrain including gravel, carpet, and lawn surfaces.
• Obstacle avoidance and visual navigation: Walker X demonstrated upgraded U-SLAM autonomous navigation with first-person-view AR navigation and 2.5D obstacle avoidance, detecting and navigating around moving objects and through complex indoor environments. It could also resist being knocked off balance, dynamically correcting its stance when pushed.^[10][11][15]

Expo 2020 Dubai

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]

NEOM Deployment

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]

What are the Walker X's specifications?

Physical Design

Walker X stands 130 cm (approximately 4 feet 3 inches) tall and weighs 63 kg (139 pounds).^[15] 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.

How many degrees of freedom does the Walker X have?

Walker X features 41 high-performance servo joints distributed across its body:

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The 7-DOF arms provide human-like reach and flexibility, while the 6-DOF force-controlled hands enable dexterous manipulation of objects.^[15] The hands feature individual fingers capable of grasping, squeezing, and performing fine motor tasks such as opening bottle caps and handling delicate items.

Servo Actuator System

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]

Detailed Specifications

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Perception and Navigation

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.^[15] 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]

Display and Expression

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]

Computing Platform

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]

Power System

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.^[15] 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.

What software does the Walker X run?

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.

What is the Walker X used for?

Research and Education

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.

Service Robotics

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.

Exhibition and Public Relations

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.

Smart Home Integration

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.

CES Innovation Awards

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:

• CES 2017: UBTECH's Alpha 2 and Jimu Robot were named CES Innovation Awards Honorees in the "Tech for a Better World" category.^[17]
• CES 2019: Alpha Mini was named a CES Innovation Award Honoree. Walker (2nd generation) was a finalist for the Best of CES 2019 award, receiving widespread media attention for its upgraded arms and dexterous manipulation capabilities.^[18][19]
• CES 2020: Walker returned with new demonstrations including yoga poses, drink pouring, drawing, piano playing, and cart pushing, with improvements in motion speed, mobility, and environmental perception.^[20]
• CES 2022: UBTECH's ADIBOT-A autonomous UV-C disinfection robot was named a CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree.^[21]

How does the Walker X relate to the Walker S industrial series?

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.

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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. The force-controlled hand technology, servo actuator designs, and ROSA software framework refined through Walker X carried directly into the Walker S lineage.^[22][23]

How does the Walker X compare to other humanoid robots?

At the time of Walker X's 2021 unveiling, the humanoid robot landscape included relatively few full-sized bipedal platforms with comparable manipulation capabilities.

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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.

Legacy and Significance

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]

See Also

• UBTECH Robotics
• Humanoid robot
• Humanoid robot market
• ASIMO
• Boston Dynamics
• Embodied AI
• Robot learning
• Computer vision
• Tesla Optimus

References

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3. Business Wire. "UBTECH Introduces Cruzr: a Cloud-Based Intelligent Humanoid Service Robot." January 5, 2017. ↩
4. South China Morning Post. "Another Chinese billionaire to emerge as Tencent-backed robot maker UBTech makes final Hong Kong IPO of 2023." December 2023. ↩
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7. IEEE Spectrum. "UBTECH Shows Off Massive Upgrades to Walker Humanoid Robot." January 8, 2019. ↩
8. Engadget. "Ubtech's Walker robot now lends a helping hand at home." January 7, 2019. ↩
9. Tom's Hardware. "UBTech's Lifelike Walker Robot Takes Big Step Forward, Can Now Draw and Do Yoga." January 2020. ↩
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11. Inceptive Mind. "UBTECH Robotics unveils Walker X intelligent humanoid service robot." July 11, 2021. ↩
12. PR Newswire. "Expo 2020 Dubai: UBTECH Panda Robot turns heads at China Pavilion." October 2021. ↩
13. LinkedIn (Charming Lee). "First two Walker X humanoid robots join NEOM, named Apollo and Artemis." 2022. ↩
14. UBTECH Official Website. "About UBTECH - Company Profile." ubtrobot.com. Retrieved June 2026. ↩
15. UBTECH Official Website. "Walker X Commercial Humanoid Robot - Specifications." ubtrobot.com/en/humanoid/products/walker-x. Retrieved June 2026. ↩
16. UBTECH Official Website. "Platform - Development Environment." ubtrobot.com/en/humanoid/platform. Retrieved June 2026. ↩
17. Business Wire. "UBTECH's Alpha 2 and Jimu Robot Named CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honorees." January 3, 2017. ↩
18. Business Wire. "UBTECH Unveils Next-Generation Intelligent Humanoid Robots at CES 2019." January 7, 2019. ↩
19. Tom's Guide. "Ubtech Walker Robot Is a Leap Forward." January 2019. ↩
20. Business Wire. "The Future of Robotics Takes Center Stage with UBTECH at CES 2020." January 3, 2020. ↩
21. Yahoo Finance. "UBTECH Showcases Autonomous UV-C Robot at CES 2022." January 2022. ↩
22. Interesting Engineering. "BYD's China factory employs Walker S1 humanoid robot for manual work." 2024. ↩
23. Mike Kalil. "UBTECH Walker S1 Assembles iPhones for Foxconn." mikekalil.com. 2024. ↩
24. PR Newswire. "UBTECH Humanoid Robot Walker S2 Begins Mass Production and Delivery, with Orders Exceeding 800 Million Yuan." November 2025. ↩