When people think of humanoids they often picture bipedal robots, but in real workplaces humanoid robots that move on wheels (wheeled humanoids) are increasingly being deployed. This article explains why wheeled humanoids are chosen and how to design one.
What is a wheeled humanoid?
A wheeled humanoid is a robot with a humanoid upper body (torso, two arms, head) mounted on an autonomous wheeled base. The upper body works like a person while the base handles movement.
Advantages over bipedal robots
- Stability: low risk of falling, with no need to focus on balance control while working
- Payload: it can carry a heavy upper body, batteries and peripherals
- Operating time: large batteries allow long continuous operation
- Development time: proven AMR technology handles mobility, so you can focus on developing the upper body
On the other hand, it cannot climb stairs or large steps, so it suits flat indoor environments such as factories, warehouses, stores, hospitals and labs.
Designing as "upper body + mobile base"
When developing a wheeled humanoid, it is efficient to treat the upper body and the mobile base separately. The base handles movement, navigation and charging, while upper-body development focuses on the work capabilities your application needs. Options for the upper body include humanoid dual arms, collaborative robot arms and in-house units.
How to choose a mobile base
- Rated payload: enough headroom for the combined weight of the upper body, arms and peripherals
- Size and minimum passage width: whether it fits through your aisles and doors
- Autonomous navigation performance: SLAM mapping, positioning accuracy and obstacle avoidance
- Runtime and auto-charging: whether the battery covers your operating hours and supports auto-charging
- Safety: whether it detects low and overhanging obstacles
- Extensibility: whether mounting, power and communication can be adapted to the upper body, and whether development interfaces are available
For example, HumansX's UX052 is a mobile base for wheeled humanoids with a compact W555×D480×H348 mm body, 90 kg rated payload, ±5 cm positioning accuracy and 7+ hours of operation at rated load. The mounting surface, mounting structure, exterior and battery configuration can all be customized.
Development process
- Define the application and tasks: where, what and for how long
- Select or design the upper body: required degrees of freedom, payload and hand type
- Integrate with the base: design the mounting, power, communication and center of gravity
- Test and improve: test navigation and tasks in the real environment and refine the software and structure
If you want to launch an entire humanoid robot, including bipedal models, under your own brand, humanoid body ODM, which customizes a proven body, is another option.
- UX052: base for wheeled humanoids and autonomous mobile robots
- BXI Elf3: 31-DoF humanoid body and body ODM
Summary
Wheeled humanoids excel in stability, payload and runtime, making them well suited to indoor deployment. Thinking in terms of "upper body + mobile base" lets you build a robot tailored to your application while keeping development time and cost down. Feel free to contact us about configuration or customization.