Humanoid robot research and AI models
HumanoidBeat coverage of humanoid robot research: control methods, robot foundation models and new training approaches, as described by their authors. Newest first; each story links to its sources.
- Figure says Figure 04 is in design lock and teases Helix 3.0 in a public all-hands
In a published all-hands recording, Figure CEO Brett Adcock said Figure 04 has reached design lock, its Index app has 37.5 million human videos, and previewed Helix 3.0. - Alibaba's Amap team releases λ0, a humanoid model trained largely on human video
Researchers at Alibaba's Amap and Token Hub released λ0, a whole-body humanoid model trained on a 500-hour human video dataset; they report 62.5% success on four real-world tasks with a Unitree G1. - XPENG shows IRON switching between handshakes, fist bumps and high fives
A new XPENG video shows its IRON humanoid adapting as a tester changes gestures mid-movement; XPENG credits its VLA 2.0 model, which it says re-evaluates the scene every 0.2 seconds. - Why UCLA's PhoneBot, a small humanoid run by a smartphone, is getting attention
UCLA's open-source PhoneBot uses an Android phone for sensing and computing in a 48 cm biped that its researchers say costs about $400 without the phone. - Unitree says it is building "Rehearsal", a self-improving loop for robot software
Unitree's Wang Xingxing said on 22 Oct 2026 the firm is developing "Rehearsal", a loop for robots to write code, test it in simulation and improve (SCMP). - Berkeley's SuperMimic trains a humanoid motion controller in three hours on one GPU, authors report
UC Berkeley researchers report that SuperMimic matched a baseline humanoid motion tracker that trained for seven days on 128 GPUs, using three hours on one GPU.
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Unitree · China · Pilots and deployments · Funding and policy