The UBTECH Walker Tienkung is a full-size platform for humanoid robotics, artificial intelligence, research, and secondary development. Unlike humanoid systems primarily designed for demonstrations or pre-programmed sequences, the Walker Tienkung is specifically aimed at universities, research institutes, AI labs, and development teams that wish to develop their own applications for Embodied AI, mobile manipulation, motion control, and human-robot interaction.
With a body height of approximately 1.72 meters, the humanoid robot possesses near-human proportions. This allows for the study of movement patterns, gripping processes, and interactions in environments originally designed for humans. The Walker Tienkung is available in two different configurations: Voice & Vision and Embodied Intelligence. Both variants differ significantly in degrees of freedom, computing power, manipulation capabilities, and equipment.
You can find further humanoid platforms for research and industrial testing in the humanoid robots section.
Walker Tienkung Voice & Vision for Research and AI Development
The Voice & Vision variant serves as the entry point into the Walker Tienkung platform. It features 21 degrees of freedom and is specifically geared towards research into bipedal locomotion, perception, voice interaction, and AI-supported robotics.
For processing, an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin with up to 275 TOPS is available. Multiple depth cameras and a high-precision IMU provide data for environmental mapping, body control, and independent research applications. In addition, the platform supports voice interaction and offers interfaces for further software development.
This makes the Walker Tienkung Voice & Vision suitable, for example, for research projects on autonomous locomotion, perception, navigation, human-robot interaction, and intelligent behavior.
Embodied Intelligence with 42 Degrees of Freedom and Dexterous Hands
For more complex research and manipulation tasks, the Walker Tienkung Embodied Intelligence variant is available. It expands the platform to a total of 42 degrees of freedom and adds, among other things, 7-DoF arms as well as two dexterous robot hands, each with six degrees of freedom.
This equipment is particularly relevant for Embodied AI research, where artificial intelligence is not just meant to process information, but to interact with the physical environment. The robot can thus be used as a development platform for grasping, object manipulation, coordinated arm movements, teleoperation, and more complex whole-body tasks.
Additionally, this configuration features two NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orins with a combined total of up to 550 TOPS of AI computing power. Supplemental 6-axis force sensing supports research projects investigating physical interaction and controlled contact with objects.
For specific applications concerning gripping, robotic manipulation, and production processes, the Assembly & Handling section offers further information.
Open Interfaces, ROS2, and Secondary Development
A key advantage of the UBTECH Walker Tienkung is its development access. The platform supports an open motor and sensor API, ROS2, and communication interfaces via CAN and EtherCAT with high control rates. This allows research teams to develop their own software, motion controllers, and AI applications and deploy them onto real hardware.
This open approach is particularly crucial for universities and research departments. Instead of merely using pre-programmed robot functions, one can test custom algorithms for perception, motion planning, manipulation, or artificial intelligence.
As a result, the Walker Tienkung is suitable for research in fields such as Physical AI, reinforcement learning, robot vision, motion control, teleoperation, and humanoid manipulation.
For educational institutions and research labs, Terra Robotics additionally offers further educational robots as well as solutions for schools & universities.
Sensors for Perception and Humanoid Interaction
Humanoid robotics requires a precise interplay of motion, sensors, and software. The Walker Tienkung uses multiple depth cameras as well as a high-precision inertial measurement unit to capture the environment and its own movement.
This data can be used, for example, to detect objects, stabilize movement sequences, or develop proprietary perception algorithms. In the Embodied Intelligence version, additional force sensing is included.
This creates a platform where various research fields can be connected: Computer Vision recognizes the environment, AI interprets the situation, and motion control and manipulation physically implement the planned action.
Precisely this interplay is an essential component of modern Embodied AI and Physical AI.
Exploring Mobile Manipulation with Humanoid Robots
A particular strength of humanoid robots lies in combining mobility and manipulation within a single platform. A stationary robot arm always works at a defined workstation. A humanoid robot, by contrast, can move between different areas and subsequently perform manipulation tasks.
The Walker Tienkung thus offers a research platform for mobile manipulation. Conceivable fields of development include the gripping and positioning of objects, material transfers, visual inspections, or experimental assembly and handling processes.
Such applications for humanoid robots are often still in the research, development, and industrial pilot project phase. Before productive deployment, the process, environment, gripping technology, safety concept, and technical integration must therefore be assessed individually. Your internal SEO system also specifically categorizes mobile manipulation under research, flexible production, and highly varied assembly processes.
Further classic automation systems and robot arms can be found under industrial robots.
Walker Tienkung for Universities and Robotics Research
The platform is especially interesting for universities, institutes, and industrial research departments. Humanoid robotics combines numerous disciplines within a single system: artificial intelligence, mechatronics, control engineering, computer vision, sensor fusion, motion planning, and software development.
Students and research teams can therefore analyze not just individual algorithms, but the interplay of the complete robot system.
Internally, the Walker Tienkung is categorized primarily for universities and research, Embodied AI, robotics training, as well as manipulation and teleoperation research.
Voice & Vision or Embodied Intelligence?
Which variant of the UBTECH Walker Tienkung is suitable depends on the research focus.
Voice & Vision offers 21 degrees of freedom, approximately 275 TOPS of AI compute, and a focus on perception, humanoid locomotion, voice interaction, and software development. The Embodied Intelligence version expands the system to 42 degrees of freedom, up to 550 TOPS, as well as dexterous hands and additional force sensors.
Operating time also differs: approximately three hours are specified for Voice & Vision, while UBTECH cites more than 3.5 hours for the Embodied Intelligence version. The specific values and equipment features should always be checked based on the specific variant during configuration.
Purchasing the UBTECH Walker Tienkung and Planning Your Research Project
Anyone wishing to purchase a UBTECH Walker Tienkung or integrate it into an existing robotics project should therefore first define their specific research and development needs. Decisive factors include, among others, the desired manipulation capabilities, AI computing power, sensor access, software stack, and required development freedom.
Terra Robotics provides support in selecting the appropriate configuration and in categorizing the robot within the planned use case. As a UBTECH platform, the Walker Tienkung can be compared with other robotics solutions for research, education, and industrial automation.
Thus, the Walker Tienkung offers a powerful foundation—especially for companies, universities, and research institutions—to not only demonstrate humanoid robotics, Embodied AI, and Physical AI but to further develop them on real, full-size hardware.