Overview

Adam is the humanoid robot from Beijing-based PNDbotics and made headlines in August 2023 when it walked among visitors at a Chinese music festival. The range now comprises four variants from Lite to Pro, all 1.67 meters tall and weighing between 60 and 63 kilograms.

Construction

Depending on the variant, 25 to 43 degrees of freedom are available; the top models SP and Pro feature five-fingered hands. At its core are the proprietary quasi-direct-drive PND actuators, which deliver up to 340 Nm at the hips and knees and enable soft, compliant contact thanks to high back-drivability. A bionic hip design and modular architecture round out the concept. The battery holds 1172 watt-hours; it runs at speeds up to 1.5 meters per second.

Technology and AI

An Intel NUC processor handles motion control, while an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX manages AI and image processing; perception comes via a RealSense depth camera. Balance derives from a combination of whole-body control (WBC) and model predictive control (MPC), supplemented by reinforcement and imitation learning. An open SDK with ROS2 and DDS interfaces targets developers.

Market Significance

Adam has primarily established itself in research and is regarded as one of the humanoids with the most natural movement patterns in its class. PNDbotics markets not only complete robots but also the actuators themselves as well as the Adam-U upper-body robot for teleoperation and data collection.