SUMMARY:

 

The Hobbs W1 is a compact, lightweight humanoid robot developed by Hobbs Robotics in China. Designed for education, research, customer service, and light manipulation, the W1 focuses on affordability and accessibility rather than high‑end athletic performance. With a friendly design, safe actuators, and a modular architecture, it’s positioned as an entry‑level humanoid for labs, startups, and commercial environments.

 

EDITORIAL:

 

The Hobbs W1 is part of a growing wave of “practical‑first” humanoids emerging from China — robots built not to dominate benchmarks, but to be deployed widely and affordably. While it doesn’t compete with the torque of Unitree or the dexterity of Figure, the W1 offers something equally important: accessibility.

Its lightweight frame, safe actuators, and modular components make it ideal for environments where reliability and cost matter more than raw performance. The W1 is a platform for experimentation, education, and service automation — a robot that lowers the barrier to entry for humanoid development.

In a market racing toward high‑end general‑purpose robots, the Hobbs W1 stands out as a grounded, practical option for teams who want a humanoid they can actually deploy today.

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

 

PHYSICAL

Height: ~150–160 cm

Weight: ~40–45 kg

Body Type: Compact humanoid

Design: Friendly, lightweight, human‑safe exterior

MOBILITY

Locomotion: Bipedal walking

Walking Speed: ~1.0 m/s

Balance System: Basic whole‑body control

Terrain: Indoor, flat surfaces

Navigation Rating: 2/5

MANIPULATION

Arms: Lightweight electric actuators

Hands: 3–5 finger variants

Payload: ~1–2 kg per arm

Manipulation Rating: 2/5

Capabilities:

Object pickup

Simple tool interaction

Customer‑service gestures

ACTUATORS

Type: Low‑force electric actuators

Motion Style: Smooth, slow, safe

Joint Torque: Moderate (not industrial‑grade)

SENSORS

RGB Cameras

Depth Cameras

IMU

Microphone Array

Touch Sensors

AI & COMPUTE

AI System: Hobbs cloud + onboard embedded compute

Capabilities:

Natural language conversation

Object recognition

Basic motion planning

Customer‑service interaction

Connectivity: Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth

BATTERY & POWER

Battery Life: ~1–2 hours

Swappable Battery: Yes

USE CASES

Education & robotics research

Customer service

Hospitality

Retail

Light manipulation tasks

Human‑robot interaction studies

 

 

Key News & Coverage

 

Hobbs Humanoid Robot by Noetix Robotics – Humanoid.guide  

https://humanoid.guide/product/hobbs/  

 

Hobbs – Robot Details, Use Case and Specifications | Aparobot  

https://www.aparobot.com/robots/hobbs  

 

Hobbs – Noetix Robotics Official Page  

https://en.noetixrobotics.com/products-279.html