Hubo 2

A sleek silver robot with head like an astronauts helmet holds its arms out to the camera. Two fingers are outstretched on each hand, while the other three fingers are clenched. — Hubo is Korea's most advanced humanoid. Photo: KAIST

Hubo 2 is a full-size humanoid that can walk, run, dance, and grasp objects. It uses a straight-leg walking gait that's an improvement over most bipedal robots, which keep their knees bent to balance.

Creator

KAIST

Year

2009

Country

South Korea 🇰🇷

Categories

Features

Hubo creator introduces his new "son." Video: IEEE Spectrum

Did you know?

Hubo 2 has 40 motors and can walk around for two hours straight without a break.

Side view of a sleek silver humanoid with a helmeted head, and thick black wires on its back. — The robot has a compact, lightweight design. Photo: KAIST

Rear view of a sleek silver humanoid with a helmeted head, and thick black wires on its back. — Hubo has more than 40 motors in its body. Photo: KAIST

History

Hubo is a humanoid robot series designed by Prof. Jun-Ho Oh at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Seoul, South Korea. Prof. Oh built the first Hubo in 2004. It was one of the first advanced full-body humanoid robots developed outside Japan. In 2010 he unveiled Hubo 2, a major upgrade on the original version. Prof. Oh is also known for building two other Hubo robots: Albert Hubo, which had a Hubo body and an Albert Einstein animatronic head developed by Hanson Robotics, and DRC-Hubo, a "transformer" robot that won the DARPA Robotics Challenge.

Full front view of a sleek, silver humanoid with a helmeted head. — The robot has an aluminum internal frame and plastic covers. Photo: KAIST

The robot stands on a baseball field wearing a Phillies cap and parts of a uniform. — Hubo appears at a Philadelphia Phillies game in 2012. Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Specs

Overview: Modular, lightweight design. High performance actuation system optimized for dynamic tasks.
Status: Inactive
Year: 2009
Website: hubolab.kaist.ac.kr
Height: 125 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Speed: 1.5 km/h (walking); 3.6 km/h (running)
Sensors: Camera, three-axis force-torque sensor, two-axis inertial sensor, two-axis tilt sensor.
Actuators: 44 brushless DC motors (19 200-W 48-V motors, six 100-W 48-V motors, nine 11-W 48-V motors, and 10 0.75-W 12-V motors).
Degrees of Freedom (DoF): 40 (Neck: 3 DoF; Arm: 7 DoF x 2; Hand: 5 DoF x 2; Torso: 1 DoF; Leg: 6 DoF x 2)
Materials: Hard plastic exterior, aluminum skeleton.
Compute: Two PC/104 embedded computers with solid state drives
Software: Windows XP OS with RTX (Real-Time Extension) for Windows.
Power: 48-V lithium-polymer battery
Cost: $400,000