China’s New Shape Shifting AI Robot Walks on Water, Flies and Swims

Key Concepts

• Grow HR: A soft, growable humanoid robot developed by SUST, prioritizing adaptability and navigating confined spaces.
• KOSA (Cognitive OS of Agents): Limx Dynamics’ operating system enabling coordinated behavior in multi-robot deployments.
• IDA: A humanoid artist creating architectural designs, blurring the lines between human and AI creativity.
• PM01: Engine AI’s humanoid robot being developed for space applications, including astronaut assistance.
• Exhumoid’s Tien Kong: A humanoid robot demonstrating direct satellite communication capabilities.
• Humanoid Joint Manufacturing: Rapid scaling of production capacity, particularly in China, to reduce costs and increase availability.

The Rapid Advancement of Humanoid Robotics: A Detailed Overview

Introduction

The field of humanoid robotics is experiencing a period of unprecedented advancement, marked by innovations in design, coordination, creative application, and manufacturing scale. This overview details recent developments from research labs and companies across the globe, focusing on key technologies, applications, and market trends.

1. Grow HR: Bio-Inspired Adaptability from SUST

Researchers at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Shenzhen have unveiled Grow HR, a soft humanoid robot distinguished by its unique skeletal structure. Unlike traditional humanoids relying on rigid frames, Grow HR utilizes “bone-inspired growable linkages.” These linkages combine soft, expandable chambers with tensioned cables and rigid adapters, providing both flexibility and structural stability. A non-stretchable textile layer adds axial stiffness, preventing uncontrolled expansion.

• Key Specifications:
  • Extension Capacity: Up to 315% extension of linked structures; 278% height increase (reaching 1.36m).
  • Contraction Capacity: 36% height reduction, 61% width reduction for navigating tight spaces.
  • Weight: 9.9 lbs (4.5 kg) total; 350g per linkage.
  • Crawling Speed: 112.2 mm/minute (standard); over 1,000 times faster with coordinated actuation.
  • Locomotion: Crawling, swimming, floating, walking on water (16 mm/s), and potential for flight with added ducted fans or quadrotors.
• Significance: Grow HR demonstrates that structural change can amplify robotic capabilities, exceeding the performance of motor-only locomotion. Its lightweight design and adaptable form factor are particularly suited for rescue missions and navigating complex environments. As stated by PhD student Wong Ting, the growable bioinspired structure has potential in field rescue missions, especially navigating narrow gaps.
• Publication: The research was published in Science Advances, indicating its significance within the scientific community.

2. Limx Dynamics and the KOSA Operating System: Scaling Coordination

Limx Dynamics, also based in Shenzhen, showcased the coordinated operation of 18 Ali humanoid robots. These robots autonomously exited shipping containers, formed a marching formation, and performed a synchronized routine without human intervention.

• KOSA (Cognitive OS of Agents): This operating system is central to the demonstration, enabling shared decision-making, movement planning, and collective control. KOSA integrates cognition and physical action, allowing for simultaneous planning and movement. It also incorporates memory, enabling robots to learn from past experiences and anticipate future events.
• Key Features of KOSA:
  • Unified Perception & Action: Simultaneous planning and movement.
  • Memory Integration: Learning and anticipating based on past experiences.
  • Real-time Adjustment: Adapting balance, posture, and gait during tasks like stair climbing.
  • Internal States: Incorporating “emotional states” to influence behavior.
• Significance: This demonstration represents a major step towards deploying humanoids as coordinated teams in industrial settings. The emphasis on realistic deployment conditions, rather than staged lab environments, highlights the practical potential of this technology.

3. Humanoid Creativity: IDA and the Future of Architecture

In Denmark, the humanoid artist IDA designed a pod house intended for human and robot cohabitation. IDA, equipped with a camera “eye” and robotic arm, created pen sketches, paintings, and digital renders of the retrofuturistic design.

• Design Features: Inspired by 1950s/60s space age architecture, featuring rounded forms and port hole windows. Includes living spaces, a kitchen, bathroom, and a dedicated pod for the robot.
• Human-AI Collaboration: A team of studio technicians supports IDA’s work, blurring the line between human prompting and AI agency. Aiden Miller notes IDA’s rising creative agency.
• Significance: This project explores the potential for humanoids to contribute to creative fields like architecture and design, raising questions about authorship and the evolving relationship between humans and AI. Despite this creative endeavor, AI adoption in architecture remains limited, with only 8% of US studios using AI tools as of early 2025.

4. Space Exploration: Engine AI’s PM01 and Exhumoid’s Tien Kong

Humanoid robots are being developed for space applications, with Engine AI’s PM01 leading the charge.

• PM01: Designed as a robotic astronaut, PM01 is intended to perform risky tasks like station repairs and hazardous exploration. A commercial version, PM01 JD Joy inside, is available for $27,000.
  • Specifications: 1.38m tall, 40 kg, aluminum alloy exoskeleton, 320° waist rotation, Intel RealSense Depth camera, Nvidia Jetson Orin plus Intel N97 CPU.
• Interstellar’s Roadmap: Suborbital flights planned around 2028, orbital tourism missions around 2032.
• Exhumoid’s Tien Kong: Became the first humanoid to connect directly to a low Earth orbit satellite without ground network support, demonstrating its ability to operate in remote areas.
• Significance: These developments highlight the potential for humanoids to expand human presence in space, reducing risk to human astronauts and enabling new forms of exploration.

5. Manufacturing and Market Growth: Scaling Production and Dominance

Significant investment is being made in scaling the manufacturing capacity for humanoid robots, particularly in China.

• EU Robot Technology: Opened a factory in Shanghai capable of producing 100,000 humanoid robot joints per year, with plans to triple output.
• Unitry Robotics: Shipped 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025 and produced 6,500 units.
• Market Data: Global humanoid shipments reached 18,000 units in 2025, generating $440 million in sales (58% year-over-year growth). Chinese companies account for over 80% of installations.
• Competitive Landscape: Elon Musk acknowledges China as Tesla’s biggest humanoid competitor, citing China’s strength in scaling, manufacturing, and AI. China has 451,700 intelligent robotics enterprises with 6.44 trillion yuan in registered capital.
• Significance: The rapid growth in manufacturing capacity and market share indicates a shift towards wider adoption of humanoid robots, driven by decreasing costs and increasing capabilities.

Conclusion

The advancements in humanoid robotics are occurring across multiple fronts – from bio-inspired design and coordinated multi-robot systems to creative applications and space exploration. The rapid scaling of manufacturing, particularly in China, suggests that humanoid robots are poised to become increasingly prevalent in various industries and aspects of daily life. The convergence of these developments signals a transformative period for robotics, with the potential to reshape how humans interact with technology and the world around them.