SE01 (left) and the new PM01 humanoid robot. Source: EngineAI Robotics
In 2024, not a week will go by without some company jumping into the race to commercialize humanoid robots. This week, EngineAI Robotics unveiled PM01, which it describes as “a lightweight, highly dynamic, fully open, universally enabled intelligent robot.”
The Shenzhen, China-based company previously announced the SE01 humanoid in October. At the time, SE01 was said to include neural networks and a “natural” gait (see video below).
SE01 will be available for global sale starting December 24th, and will be released in commercial and educational versions. Both versions are available until March 31, 2025 at a combined price of 88,000 Yuan (USD 12,000). During this period, purchasers of the commercial version will receive the right to upgrade to the educational version.
This price is lower than the $20,000 to $30,000 that Tesla’s Elon Musk said the Optimus robot would ultimately cost, but most humanoids still have limited capabilities.
PM01 humanoid built based on SE01
PM01 stands 1.38 m (4.5 ft) tall, weighs approximately 40 kg (88 lb), and has 24 degrees of freedom (DoF), achieving a movement speed of 2 m/sec. (4.4 mph). 320-degree lumbar rotation enables complex movements complemented by mechanical and natural humanoid walking modes, according to EngineAI Robotics.
The company said, “Through advanced optical motion capture technology and an end-to-end neural network, the robot can accurately replicate human movements, allowing it to adapt well to a variety of environments.”
PM01 offers improved open source features, compatibility, dynamic performance, power and hardware stability compared to its predecessor, EngineAI said. The robot’s computing suite is based on the X86 architecture and NVIDIA Jetson Orin high-performance modules, supporting cross-platform algorithm deployment and application development.
PM01’s control interface is inspired by: iron manEngineAI pointed out: The core screen integrates a variety of functions to allow users to easily issue commands and access information.
Earlier this year, China’s National and Provincial Joint Humanoid Robot Innovation Center launched a data sharing initiative to help local developers. Additionally, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set a goal of mass producing humanoids by 2025.
Other companies offering humanoid platforms but also turning to open source communities for software development include Fourier and UBTECH. New York University’s Robotic Utility Model (RUM) is also intended to help generalize robotics education.
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Enjin AI Robotics pursues ‘embodied intelligence’
EngineAI Robotics touted its 2024 achievements, including the launch of three humanoid robot models. It said that its neural network and walking technology differentiated it from its competitors.
The company also developed its own electric joints, algorithms and proprietary modules, which it said helped it deliver nearly 100 products in five months.
In August 2024, EngineAI raised unspecified seed funding and has raised $4.5 million to date, according to PitchBook.
The company said the launch of PM01 is a step toward its 2025 development target. This is to ‘catalyze the evolution of embodied intelligence and pave the way towards the era of artificial intelligence (AGI).’
