Humanoid robots for research

The research project publishes locomotion and manipulation methods with a reproducible open design.

Parts bundles are not complete robots. Assembly, compute, printed end effectors and policy setup are required before these experiments.

Booster documents development support on all three K1 tiers and use in robotics education and RoboCup.

Base arms have no grasping end effector. Custom tasks require programming; the entry battery has a shorter runtime.

Unitree lists secondary development and optional dexterous hands only on the R1 EDU, with open joint and sensor interfaces and simulation platform support.

The EDU Standard ships without hands, so dexterous hands and a high-power compute module are extras quoted by sales, and battery life is about 1 hour.

Maxtronics markets NAO6 for education and research and lists a Python and C++ SDK and Choregraphe low-code programming among its tools.

Aldebaran cloud services ended on 1 Oct 2026, so a NAO6 needs the Maxtronics update for the app store, updates and remote speech recognition, and a NAO7 successor is in development.

ROBOTIS documents a ROS development platform with actuator control and research-oriented hardware.

This miniature platform has no functional grasping hands. Development and maintenance need technical skills.

Astribot's US launch release presents the T1 as a platform for researchers and developers with SDK and API joint control, VR teleoperation and data collection for model training.

Astribot counts 23 DoF excluding end effectors and does not say which gripper or hand the $18,000 US price includes, and its own website still has no T1 product page.

EngineAI lists a 2026 Education Edition of the PM01 with secondary development and offers low-level hardware interfaces plus open-source training and deployment code.

The 5-DOF arms carry no hands or grippers, and anything beyond the built-in motions requires reinforcement-learning and ROS 2 development skills.

Dobot describes the Atom Max as designed for robotics research, with dexterous 6-DoF hands, VR/MR teleoperation and an optional Embodied AI Set of models and data tools.

The Embodied AI Set of URDF models, training framework and data tools is optional, and Dobot itself describes humanoids' industrial role today as pilot testing.

Booster documents the T2 as an open development platform with Booster Studio, an Education edition for education and research, and built-in entertainment demo agents.

Base E1 and P1 versions have no end effector (grippers or dexterous hands come on E2, E3, P2 and P3), and only the Pro edition has the Jetson Thor T5000.

Fourier describes the open-source N1 as purpose-built for embodied AI research and publishes design schematics, BOM, assembly manuals and basic operating software code.

Fourier lists no price or store for the N1, so you build it from the published package or buy a third-party assembly, and it has no hands and Chinese-language SDK documentation.

The manufacturer provides C++ and Python control interfaces with locomotion and low-level examples.

An SDK is a research tool, not a ready-made task. Confirm the SDK and firmware match the purchased T1 configuration.

Unitree identifies the EDU edition as its configuration for custom development.

Confirm SDK scope and compute on the exact EDU quote. Hands and application software are not included in every configuration.

Galaxea's R1 software guide documents a ROS Noetic SDK for development, with joint control of the arms and torso, chassis control and gripper position control topics.

Galaxea's current table lists grippers as the base R1's only end effector, its guide marks R1 teleoperation and arm pose control as coming soon, and the base R1 is absent from its online store.

AgiBot sells the A2 Lite for entertainment and commercial performances and the A2 Ultra for showroom guiding and reception, and publishes AimDK developer guides for both.

The $44,560 A2 Lite has no perception, speech or grasping hands, so reception and guiding need the quote-priced Ultra, and the SDK keeps low-level leg control closed by default.

Fauna markets Sprout to researchers and developers with full SDK access, for real-world data collection, engineering curriculum and student projects, and guest-facing retail and entertainment roles.

Sprout is sold by request rather than checkout, its grippers are 1-DoF, and retail, entertainment and classroom applications must be built by the buyer on the included behaviors and APIs.

Unitree's spec table gives the H2 EDU secondary development, a Core i7 development PC and dexterous hand options, none of which the base H2 has.

Dexterous hands and the Thor compute module are optional extras, and Unitree sells the EDU by sales contact with no published price.

LimX's Oli EDU spec lists custom development with low-level and high-level motion APIs, a standard two-finger gripper and a motion library that includes dance.

The standard gripper has one degree of freedom, the five-finger hand and the Studio package for data collection are optional, and battery life is about 90 minutes.

Pollen describes Reachy 2 as an open-source bimanual mobile manipulator for AI and robotics labs, controlled with a Python SDK on ROS 2 Humble or through its VR teleoperation app.

It uses 1-DoF parallel grippers, VR teleoperation needs a compatible headset, AI processing runs on the buyer's own computers, and pricing is by quotation from Pollen sales.

Unitree's open-source xr_teleoperate code lists the H1 as supported for XR teleoperation of its arms and Inspire dexterous hands, with data recording.

Hands are sold separately and the H1 arm has only 4 degrees of freedom, so grasping work needs added hands, an XR headset and your own code.

PAL Robotics describes TALOS as a ROS-based, fully torque-controlled humanoid for research, with customizable grippers and a 6 kg payload per arm.

Whole-body control, navigation and teleoperation are premium software extras, and the head, gripper configuration and price are set by quote.

PAL Robotics lists a ROS 2 API, real-time loop access, RL and imitation-learning pipelines, and arm and end-effector options for Kangaroo.

Arms, grippers or five-finger hands, force sensors, the whole-body controller and the VR teleoperation demo are configuration options priced by quote.

PAL Robotics describes REEM-C as a fully ROS-based research platform that comes with walking, grasping and whole-body control skills.

PAL now lists REEM-C under Legacy Robots, hand payload is 1 kg with the arm stretched, and teleoperation and other advanced software are premium extras.

Unitree lists secondary development on the H2 Plus and NVIDIA Isaac TeleOp for capturing demonstration data, with optional Sharpa Wave five-finger hands.

The Sharpa Wave hands and wrist cameras are listed as optional, and Unitree sells the H2 Plus by sales contact without a published price.

The Poppy project provides a modifiable open platform for educators and robotics researchers.

This is an assembly and programming platform. It does not provide autonomous household or warehouse work.

Menlo sells Asimov 1 as a humanoid for researchers and developers to run research, collect data and put on live demos, with an SDK and simulation configs.

It ships as a DIY kit with an estimated 20-hour build and no hands (manipulation is in development), and the kit warranty covers component defects for 90 days.

PNDbotics documents Adam-U for research experiments, algorithm testing and data acquisition, with ROS2 Humble development interfaces and dexterous hands in its specification.

PNDbotics describes it as an upper body on a lift platform built for desktop-level work, and the hand model and teleoperation devices supplied depend on the bundle quoted.

NEURA's reservation page for 4NE1 Gen 3.5 lists a Python SDK, C++ SDK and ROS 2 interface, integrated high-dexterity hands and teleoperation.

Reservation only, with availability expected at the end of 2026, so the listed interfaces cannot be tested yet; human-detection safety sensors cost extra and third-party end effectors are excluded.

Zerith documents an open SDK, VR teleoperation and vocational training programs for the H1, and lists a Hefei Department Store unmanned warehouse as a customer case.

Retail work is a Zerith-built commercial solution on the H1 Pro that needs a contract, site integration, remote supervision and on-site backup, and the standard gripper has two fingers.

Leju's IPO prospectus lists research and education, data collection and industrial production among the Kuavo 5's main application scenarios.

Industrial use is at proof-of-concept stage per the filing, most 2025 sales were for data collection and research, and end effectors are customized per order.

Galbot's developer platform documents a G1 SDK with low-level joint control for labs, a launched reception and guiding kit, an education solution for college labs, and retail and industrial solutions.

Galbot names no customers for its retail and warehouse claims, which are sold as quoted contract projects; end effectors vary by configuration and the teleoperation arms are a separate accessory.

Fourier's GR-3 brochure describes interactive service in public settings, multi-DoF dexterous hands, whole-body teleoperation and algorithm development for researchers.

The 12-DoF hands, LiDAR, Jetson module and teleoperation system are optional extras by quote, and Fourier names no GR-3 customer deployment or public price.

PNDbotics' wiki documents an Adam SDK with DDS, ROS2 and gRPC interfaces plus URDF and MJCF models, and lists dexterous hands on the SP and Pro models.

The Lite has spherical hands and the Standard has none, so grasping work needs an SP or Pro, and teleoperation is documented only for the Pro and SP.

Robros describes IGRIS-C as a platform for research, testing and education with C++ and Python APIs, and includes a master arm for teleoperation and imitation learning data collection.

Availability is listed as South Korea with global inquiries welcomed, the hoist is sold separately, and the end effector type (hand, gripper or magnet) is fixed at shipping.

RobotEra's L7 page lists research uses such as data collection and platform validation, commercial performance displays, and XHAND 1 dexterous hands in the specification.

RobotEra publishes no price or named L7 customer deployment, and both purchase and product manuals go through an enterprise inquiry form.

IIT describes the iCub as a humanoid designed to support research in embodied AI, distributed as open source, with hands designed to support sophisticated manipulation skills.

IIT sells it by quotation at an indicative 250,000 euros for the full robot, and it runs open-source YARP middleware aimed at research-level software development.

AgiBot's store lists the A3 for stage performances, theme park tours, reception and exhibition hall tours, and offers a developer version that opens the SDK.

The standard version ships an entertainment skill package without secondary development, hands are a selectable option, and AgiBot says demo capabilities are not enabled by default.

AgiBot's G2 manual lists logistics handling, precision assembly, exhibition guiding, reception and research scenarios, SDK development interfaces and an optional data collection and teleoperation kit.

AgiBot reports production-line use at one named customer (Longcheer) after four months of integration alongside human operators, and it sells by sales contact with hands and the data kit as options.

Astribot says this S1 version is designed for scientific research and offers an API, development guides, simulation support and a VR teleoperation data collection solution.

It has parallel-jaw grippers rather than dexterous hands, Astribot publishes no price or SDK terms, and new tasks rely on teleoperated demonstration data and model training.

Fourier's launch release documents an SDK with ROS, Isaac Lab and Mujoco support, and VR remote control and lead-through teaching that record operational data.

Fourier's brochure lists a 6-DoF hand as basic and the 12-DoF tactile hand as optional, no price is published, and Fourier's site now leads with the GR-3 series.