Walker S1 vs KUAVO-MY: Key Differences

Both are full-size bipeds, but Walker S1 is the heavier, more complex machine. It stands 172 cm, weighs 76 kg and has 41 degrees of freedom driven by UBTECH's own joints with 250 N·m of peak torque, while KUAVO-MY is 166 cm and 55 kg with 22 degrees of freedom, or 28 on the exhibition version with a moving head and dexterous hands. That extra 21 kg and near-double joint count reflect Walker S1's job of handling parts on factory lines. KUAVO-MY's lighter build is easier to move, set up and recover in a lab or exhibition hall.

Both robots walk on two legs, and both are meant for indoor floors. KUAVO-MY walks at 0.4 m/s, can break into a run of up to 5 km/h and maps its surroundings with a Livox Mid-360 3D LiDAR and a depth camera. Walker S1 relies on cameras instead, using two-stage semantic VSLAM that adds object-level understanding to its visual map. In practice, KUAVO-MY's LiDAR gives research teams a familiar mapping setup, while Walker S1's semantic approach is tuned to recognising parts, totes and stations on a factory floor.

The two sensor suites point at different jobs. Walker S1 is built for touch and handling, with RGB-D cameras in its head and chest, stereo and panoramic fisheye cameras for 360° vision, six-axis force sensors in its wrists and ankles and tactile arrays in its hands. KUAVO-MY leans on mapping and hearing: an Orbbec Gemini 335L depth camera, a Livox Mid-360 LiDAR, an IMU, a six-microphone array that locates sounds in 360° and temperature sensors in every joint. Choose Walker S1 if force-controlled handling matters, and KUAVO-MY if you need LiDAR data and voice localisation for guiding people.

Walker S1 plans tasks with a large language model, uses learning-based whole-body control for stable walking and dexterous handling, and coordinates with other units through UBTECH's BrainNet. KUAVO-MY learns tasks by imitation from recorded demonstrations and answers questions through a large-model Q&A system, with an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX for AI and an Intel Core i9 computer for motion control. Walker S1's AI is aimed at running several robots on one production line. KUAVO-MY's is aimed at teams that want to teach new skills quickly by demonstration.

KUAVO-MY is the only one of the two with published battery figures: a 60 V, 6 Ah pack gives about an hour of walking and recharges in 1.5 hours or less. UBTECH has not published Walker S1's battery capacity or runtime, saying only that it charges through a fast-charging port on its back. An hour of walking is enough for demonstrations and research sessions, but not for a shift without breaks. Ask UBTECH for Walker S1's runtime under your workload before planning shift coverage.

Walker S1 is a production-line worker: it has handled parts, carried material totes, helped with quality inspection and worked alongside conveyors in car factories. KUAVO-MY is a more general platform that Leju aims at research labs, exhibition and shopping guidance, education and industrial trials. The deciding question is whether you need a robot for a defined factory task or a platform to develop and demonstrate on. Choose Walker S1 for car-factory handling, inspection and assembly, or KUAVO-MY for research, demonstrations and guided tours.

Walker S1 is rated for 15 kg of continuous carrying and works with standard 15 to 16.3 kg industrial totes, using dexterous hands or factory grippers. KUAVO-MY's arms are 79 cm long, and its exhibition version adds dexterous hands for handling demonstrations. Walker S1's load rating comes from repetitive tote work on car assembly lines, which is the most demanding handling either robot has been shown doing. For lifting and carrying in production, Walker S1 has the documented record. KUAVO 4PRO (KUAVO-MY) has 22 degrees of freedom.

KUAVO-MY is the more open platform for developers. Leju publishes its ROS-based kuavo-ros-control stack for secondary development, the KUAVO-MY edition runs the OpenHarmony-based KaihongOS, and the robot exposes Wi-Fi 6E, dual 2.5G Ethernet, CAN and RS485 interfaces. Walker S1 runs UBTECH's ROSA 2.0 application framework and is designed to plug into factory management systems, AMRs and AGVs. Research groups that want to change the control code will find KUAVO-MY easier to work with, while factories that want a robot to join existing systems are UBTECH's target.

Walker S1 has the stronger industrial track record, with trials on production lines at BYD, Geely, Audi-FAW and other carmakers. Leju offers KUAVO-MY for research, commercial guidance, industrial, education and smart-city projects rather than naming large factory customers. Named carmaker trials are a useful signal for buyers who need evidence that a humanoid can keep up on a real line. For labs and showrooms, KUAVO-MY's wider range of project types matters more than factory references. Walker S1's listed uses include visual quality inspection, walking while carrying material totes, sorting automotive parts and coordinating with factory conveyor belts. KUAVO 4PRO (KUAVO-MY)'s listed uses include bipedal walking, obstacle traversal, tote carrying and customer guidance.