ALTER-EGO — Photo: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) (official image), from unipi.it. Image policy

Pilot useItaly

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) · research humanoid

ALTER-EGO

A 120 cm humanoid avatar that balances on two wheels like an inverted pendulum, with variable-stiffness 'artificial muscle' arms and soft anthropomorphic Pisa/IIT SoftHands, stereo cameras and microphones; a clinician in a headset can drive it remotely or it can act semi-autonomously. An improved Alter-Ego X competed in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE.

Price: —Not published
Height: 120 cmTaller than 12%
Weight: —Not published
Payload: —Not published
Speed: —Not published
Battery: —Not published

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Why it matters

A pilot use humanoid from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (SoftBots Lab) and University of Pisa (E. Piaggio Research Center).

Real-world use

In a 2026 pilot clinical study at IRCCS Maugeri Milan (Fit4MedRob project) supporting care of ALS and other neurodegenerative patients.

Timeline

First shown: 2017
Released: Not yet

Maker

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT)Government lab · founded 2003 · Genoa, Italy

About EUR 90 million a year from the Italian government; RobotCub received EUR 8.5 million from the European Commission

How it stacks up

Against other humanoids that publish the figure. Pick a measure.

ALTER-EGO is taller than 12% of the 305 other humanoids that publish a height. Bars show the 7 closest in date.

Height 120 cm 34 cm213 cm #266 of 306 · taller than 12%

Not published by the maker: weight, speed, payload, joints, battery, price.

Public attention

How much public attention ALTER-EGO gets, from open data.

No Wikipedia article of its own yet
No recent press stories listed yet

Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

No component details published yet.

Hands: dexterous
Movement: Wheeled base

Lineage

Every Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (SoftBots Lab) and University of Pisa (E. Piaggio Research Center) humanoid in order.

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) also makes 3 machines. See every Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) robot

Made, sold and where

No production or sales figures published yet.

Price: Not published
How to get one: No official buying page found

Side by side with its peers

Picked by the same rules for every humanoid: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. How we choose

Full comparison

Measure	ALTER-EGOIstituto Italiano di Tecnologia (SoftBots Lab) and University of Pisa (E. Piaggio Research Center)	CruzrUBTECH RoboticsSame job: healthcare · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots · Similar size	MoxiDiligent RoboticsSame job: healthcare · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots	Promobot V4PromobotSame job: healthcare · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots
First shown	2017	2017-01	2018-09	2018-01
Status	Pilot use	Commercial	Commercial	Commercial
Height	120 cm	120 cm	—	—
Weight	—	45 kg	—	—
Joints	—	—	—	—
Speed	—	3.6 km/h	—	—
Payload	—	—	—	—
Battery	—	8 h	16 h	—
Price	—	$35,000	—	—

Sources

Figures come from the maker. Every link below backs something on this page.

IIT SoftBots Lab ALTER-EGO: the avatar University of Pisa Maugeri, the Italian Institute of Technology and the University of Pisa bring robotics into hospital wards IIT OpenTalk Maugeri, the IIT and the University of Pisa bring robotics to hospitals

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