Robotics Humanoid Robot Changes its Batteries Independently

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A small sensation is being reported by a Chinese start-up: The new humanoid robot "Walker S2" from Ubtech Robotics can change its own batteries when they run out.

In a video by the Chinese start-up, the mechanical biped takes a break from its work in a factory, walks to a battery exchange station, pulls the empty battery from a compartment in its back, inserts a new one, and heads back to the conveyor belt.

Robot Decides Independently

To avoid running out of power while changing the battery, it has two of them. It can also autonomously decide whether to recharge or replace its batteries, depending on how busy it currently is. A battery swap takes three minutes, according to the manufacturer, while recharging takes about 90 minutes.

The ability to swap batteries is "a world first" for humanoid robots, writes the robotics start-up based in Beijing (research & development) and Shenzhen (headquarters, production).

Ubtech clearly seems to have a knack for developments that attract attention. Earlier this spring, it introduced the predecessor model "Walker S1" in a video showcasing the humanoid in teamwork. In the video, multiple humanoids can be seen assisting each other in a car factory of the Chinese startup ZEEKR (we reported).

Increase Productivity

However, in both cases, the news involves developments that are of interest to industrial users of humanoids, particularly the automotive industry. Teamwork and avoiding prolonged work breaks for battery recharging are both features that can increase productivity.

Walker S1 and Walker S2 are not only mechanically remarkable (how S2 casually raises its hands over its head and then pulls the battery out of its back would make an Indian yogi turn green with envy), but also impress with powerful algorithms.

Embedded AI Also on the Rise in China

The two bipedal robot models from Ubtech are just two of many examples of how "embedded AI," or artificial intelligence integrated into robots and other machines, is currently gearing up to revolutionize industrial manufacturing and logistics "made in China."

Three days before the video launch of Walker S2, a robot from another Chinese company, also in Shenzhen, made headlines: A robot from the company Vanke was filmed taking the subway all by itself to deliver goods to 7-Eleven stores in the city. It moves on wheels.

Star Wars fans will recognize that its design must have been inspired by R2D2, even though it is a bit bulkier than its famous science fiction predecessor. But it is also a world first: Robots that independently take the subway do not currently exist anywhere else.

Robots that independently take the subway do not currently exist anywhere else.

Impact on the Manufacturing Industry

What may still appear here and there as marketing gimmicks has a very serious background with significant consequences for the German and European manufacturing industries. The remarkable ability of Chinese companies, as demonstrated here, to combine multiple originally isolated technology fields (robotics, AI, automotive engineering, battery research) into market-ready innovations—and then quickly transform them into market-ready products thanks to China’s globally unique supply chains—could become a new competitive advantage for Chinese manufacturers in the coming years.

China's Government Promotes New Technologies

The communist state and party leadership in Beijing is planning exactly that. "Embedded AI" is a good example of the new "new-quality productive forces" that have been heavily promoted since last year, aiming to transform China from the cheap "workshop of the world" into a globally leading mega-hub for high-tech manufacturing.

The implications of this long-term but rapidly implemented new industrial policy, a kind of "Made in China 2.0," for competition with German manufacturers in various industries on the Chinese market, as well as in the global market, need not be elaborated further.

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Robotics Hotspot Shenzhen

As for Walker S2, despite its impressive battery-swapping action, there is certainly still room for improvement. One can speculate how long it might take before such or similar humanoids can repair themselves and, later on, even produce themselves. It’s quite possible that these headlines will once again come from one of the 1,600 robotics companies that now exist in Shenzhen.

Henrik Bork, a long-time China correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Frankfurter Rundschau, is Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consulting agency specializing in China and based in Beijing.