Ah… humanoids, humanity’s other long-running fantasy right after flying. We have dreamed of robots like I, Robot’s Sonny for decades, but until recently, what we got were robots that still walked like ASIMO. That was in 2023. Well, not anymore.
I honestly do not know how or when we went from ASIMO’s polite shuffle to a robot that first stood up like a contorted Sadako Yamamura crawling out of a TV, and then evolved into one that walks like a model strutting down a catwalk. Now China’s maestro of humanoids, EngineAI, has taken things even further. Not only does its latest model, the T800 (nothing ominous here, I assure you), walk like a real human, but it is also more athletic than some humans.
Standing at 173 cm tall, the T800 boasts 29 degrees of free movement articulation, not including the hands, allowing human-like motion for fluid actions, including sprinting. This thing is seriously powerful, too. Each joint is said to output up to 450 Nm of torque, giving it industry-leading explosive power. Every unit also features active cooling on all leg joints and packs a battery good for up to four hours between charges.
Other highlights include a multi-dimensional perception system, self-developed micro joint motors, a 360° omnidirectional perception system, and millisecond-level environmental data processing. All of this is wrapped in a bold, rugged aesthetic that blends raw power with futuristic tech.
So just how agile and human-like is the T800? Well, it walks like a human, and it fights. Wait, what? Yes. It CAN fight. Wait, a minute… So, someone tell me what we are having a humanoid for? Certainly not for Real Steel kind of sports, right? Anyhoo, so, yes. Traditionally, it is already a challenge to even enable a bipedal robot to balance itself, let alone walk like a human. But the T800 is not a traditional robot.
It can stand perfectly on two legs, walk like a human, pull off a roundhouse kick, and even a full 360-degree roundhouse kick. Yes. This means it jumps and lands, possibly more balanced than some humans do.
It can also execute a five-kick combo, combo punches—uppercut included, and then combine kicks and punches. That is not it. It can pull off a Capoeira routine and, wait for it, even showboat like an actual boxer. Wait. Can someone remind me what we need a humanoid for again? Certainly not for fighting, right?
Anyhoo, all of that is really to show its agility and how its vision system works in sync with the entire body. At the end of the day, the T800 is meant to do actual work. This is where its multi-dimensional sensing dexterous hands come in. Each hand has seven degrees of freedom, supports loads up to 5 kg, and integrates tactile sensing for precise grasping and flexible manipulation.
With that dexterity and agility, the T800 can handle packages in warehouses, serve in hotels, work in factories operating machinery, handle small power tools, and even act as a salesperson, I mean, salesrobot. Oh, did we mention that it has waist movement, too? Kinda creepy, don’t you think?
Welcome to the future. And this is not even a concept. EngineAI is already taking pre-orders in China, with each unit priced at 180,000 yuan [CH], which works out to roughly US$26,000 at current exchange rates.
Images: Engineai [CH].
