R1 is the latest contraption to join the steadily expanding field of humanoid robots. Officially unveiled this week at a tech conference in Shanghai, China, R1 is from Robbyant, a unit of Ant Group, which itself is a tech outfit backed by the Chinese tech billionaire Jack Ma.
When fully developed, R1, which for now uses wheels instead of legs to get around, will be deployed as a “smart companion for your home,” according to Robbyant, though it could also guide tourists, sort medicines, and offer medical consultations, among other tasks.
A video (below) shared by RoboHub shows R1 pottering about in the kitchen, knocking together a dish during a demonstration at the Shanghai tech show.
According to RoboHub, the autonomous and AI-powered R1 humanoid robot features multimodal perception smarts that enable it to recognize and locate various ingredients and cooking utensils.
During its demonstration at the Shanghai show, R1 apparently made four different dishes, though its developer claims that it has the capability to make more than 10,000 recipes and 1,000 tea drinks.
R1 is currently being tested in community care centers and restaurants prior to going on sale. Pricing for the robot has yet to be announced.
Judging from the admittedly limited footage that we have here, R1 doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the most advanced humanoid robots emerging from a growing number of companies in China, the U.S., and beyond.
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot, for example, is already performing intricate tasks with great agility (and it has legs!), while Unitree’s H1 humanoid robot proved itself by winning multiple gold medals at the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Olympics last month.
And then there’s Figure’s 02 robot, which can competently load a dishwasher with precision moves, and even do the laundry.
Still, with R1 having the backing of a tech behemoth like Ant Group, we can expect to see the team behind it make notable advances before too long as it works to catch up with its rivals.
