Robotics Special: Chinese startup drops "cheapest humanoid robot"

Welcome back, Superhuman. A relatively unknown Chinese startup just shook up the market, dropping a walking, dancing humanoid robot at about the price of an iPhone. Meanwhile, leaked documents from Amazon have got people worried about the future of warehouse jobs in the age of robotics.

WHAT’S NEXT

The most important news and breakthroughs in robotics this week

1. Chinese startup drops the "world’s cheapest humanoid robot": Chinese startup Noetix Robotics has unveiled Bumi, a humanoid robot priced at just $1,370. Despite its compact size and wallet-friendly price tag, the robot showcases impressive walking, balancing, and dancing capabilities. While American companies struggle to get off the ground, Chinese competitors are potentially creating an entirely new consumer category for what was always considered largely exclusive technology. Watch it in action here.

2. Unitree unveils its most advanced humanoid robot yet: The company’s new H2 model features a strikingly human-like face and impressive dexterity, as demonstrated through flashy videos of the robot performing ballet and martial arts moves. As Unitree gears up for a mainland IPO valued at roughly $7B, this latest release potentially puts it far ahead of Western competitors like Boston Dynamics and Tesla with significantly lower price points and aggressive development timelines.

3. Amazon reportedly plans to replace 600K+ potential US jobs with robots: According to leaked internal documents obtained by The New York Times, the e-commerce giant aims to automate 75% of its operations, potentially gutting 160,000 roles by 2027 alone. The move is expected to save about $12.6B over two years. While Amazon has disputed the leaked documents as representing just "one team's perspective," the news has raised significant concerns about the future of warehouse employment.

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ROBOTS IN ACTION

How robots are transforming the world around us

🎆 Sky Lights: Nearly 16K drones lit up the night sky (and our social feeds) in Liuyang, China, setting a new world record. The show, which typically draws millions of in-person and online viewers, demonstrates how drones are revolutionizing traditional light shows by enabling more intricate patterns, longer durations, and eco-friendly alternatives to conventional pyrotechnics. Check out a viral video from the event here.

📒 Robot School: Unitree has launched an educational platform teaching students how to train, operate, and maintain its Go2 quadruped robots. The curriculum covers everything from hardware basics to autonomous navigation — another sign that these $1,600 "robo-dogs" are racing from novelty use towards mainstream adoption.

🥊 Duking It Out: About 50 tiny combat robots squared off at the UK Beetle Championship in Bristol, drawing nearly 300 spectators in a scaled-down version of the classic TV show Robot Wars. The event aimed to create an accessible entry point for people from all walks of life to engage with robotics in a laid-back, fun setting.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Everything else you need to know this week

Here are the biggest developments in the robotics space that you should know about:

• Amazon unveiled Blue Jay, a new robotics system for its warehouses that can pick, sort, and consolidate packages in a single assembly line.

• Uber and Nebius are investing up to $375M in Avride, Nebius' autonomous vehicle subsidiary, to accelerate its driverless fleet to as many as 500 cars.

• Elon Musk predicts that Tesla will remove the safety monitor from its robotaxis by the end of 2025 and expand its robotaxi service to 8–10 new markets.

• US safety regulators are investigating around 2,000 Waymo robotaxis after one was caught driving past a stopped school bus with flashing lights.

• Serve Robotics could possibly raise up to $100M through a new stock sale to expand its fleet of AI-powered delivery robots.

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ROBOT OF THE WEEK

A robot that caught our eye this week

School is now in session, but not in the way you might expect. 

Booster Robotics launched the K1 humanoid robot for kids and education. The robot walks, balances, and interacts in real time using depth cameras and motion sensors. It ships fully assembled and comes in a portable case so you’re ready to deploy straight away — all for the price of a high-end laptop. Watch it in action here.

You can check it out here.

ROBO REEL

Watch: Robot kills it on the dance floor, “beating” human in viral dance-off

Robots are literally dancing circles around humans.

A humanoid robot, seemingly from Unitree Robotics, showed off its dance moves by challenging X user Liv Boeree to an impromptu dance-off in a video that’s since gone viral on X. The growing trend of robots participating in cultural activities — from nightclubs to traditional folk performances — got many X users noting we're living in a future that would have seemed like science fiction just a decade ago.

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Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team