Honor is working on developing a humanoid robot

This week in Shenzhen, Chinese brand Honor announced its first step into a whole new category – humanoid robots. It was part of the launch of the Honor 400 series of smartphones, and was pitched as part of the company’s major transformation into an «AI-enabled device ecosystem» rather than just a phone maker.

Honor said it has already set a record for the fastest walking speed for a humanoid robot, at 4 meters per second. However, the hardware used to achieve the result was not built by Honor itself.

The hardware was the responsibility of Unitree, a Chinese company well known for its affordable and nimble bipedal robots. Honor, for its part, integrated its own artificial intelligence algorithms through Unitree’s open software interface.

The company emphasizes that it sees this success as a step toward developing its own solutions, not just collaboration. To that end, it has created a new department called «Industry Incubation Department» that will focus on intelligent form factors, from robots to AI agents.

A new department called «Industry Incubation Department» will focus on intelligent form factors, from robots to AI agents.

Although Honor hasn’t shown any of its own prototypes yet, the company says it is actively pursuing internal development. It’s also reportedly partnering with others in what it calls «an ecosystem of embodied intelligence».

Honor says it’s also working with other participants in the so-called «embodied intelligence ecosystem.

Interestingly, the robot news has been overshadowed by the launch of the Honor 400 series, which has been quite successful. The company claims an 183% increase in sales in the UK compared to the previous generation. This result is attributed to new AI features, including Google-backed video generation from images.

The story Honor is working on a humanoid robot was first published on ITZine.ru.