Humanoid & robot atlas
Albert HUBO
Photo: Dayofid at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. Background removed by Simbeing
DiscontinuedSucceeded by HUBO 2 (KHR-4) South Korea

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) · research humanoid

Albert HUBO

A HUBO walking body topped with Hanson Robotics' Frubber Einstein head, with 28 facial degrees of freedom and expressions including happiness, sadness, anger and surprise. Height 137 cm (Oh et al., 2006).

Price
—Not published
Height
137 cmTaller than 27%
Weight
57 kgHeavier than 44%
Payload
—Not published
Speed
1.2 km/hFaster than 7%
Battery
2 hRuns longer than 15%
Simulate in your job Compare with QRIO (SDR-4X)

Not sure this is the one? Find the best robot for your job Starts with: greet and guide customers. Five more quick questions.

Why it matters

An early walking humanoid with a realistic, expressive android face (an Albert Einstein likeness by Hanson Robotics).

Real-world use

Greeted leaders at the APEC summit in Busan, Korea, in November 2005.

Timeline

First shown
2005-11
Released
Not yet
APEC summit, Busan, South Korea

Maker

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)University lab · Daejeon, South Korea

Agency for Defense Development (5.7 billion won for Pibot)

How it stacks up

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

  1. RoboThespianEngineered Arts · 2005175 cm
  2. MAHRUKorea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) · 2005150 cm
  3. REEM-APAL Robotics · 2005140 cm
  4. Albert HUBOKAIST Hubo Lab and Hanson Robotics · 2005137 cm
  5. KotaroUniversity of Tokyo JSK Lab (Ikuo Mizuuchi, Masayuki Inaba) · 2005133 cm
  6. enonFujitsu Frontech and Fujitsu Laboratories · 2005130 cm
  7. ASIMO (new ASIMO)Honda · 2005130 cm
  8. EMIEWHitachi · 2005130 cm

Albert HUBO is taller than 27% of the 305 other humanoids that publish a height. Bars show the 7 closest in date.

Height 137 cm 34 cm213 cm #221 of 306 · taller than 27%

Not published by the maker: payload, price.

Public attention

A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current humanoids.

  • No Wikipedia article of its own yet
  • 1 news story from reputable press listed on this page

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

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement
Walks on legs · 66 joints
Actuators & motors
42 brushed DC motors in the body and 28 servomotors in the head.
Hands
Five degrees of freedom per hand (Oh et al., 2006).
Sensors & vision
Two cameras, gyroscope, accelerometer and three-axis foot force sensors.
Compute
On-board CPU with wireless networking.
Battery & power
Lithium-polymer, about 2 hours of operation.
Materials & build
Frubber artificial skin on the Hanson-built face; plastic exterior over an aluminium frame.
AI & software
Windows XP with RTX real-time extension (Oh et al., 2006).
Other details
66 DoF in total, including 28 in the face.

Lineage

Every KAIST Hubo Lab and Hanson Robotics humanoid in order.

  1. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useKHR-22004Retired
  2. HUBO (KHR-3)HUBO (KHR-3)2004Retired
  3. Albert HUBOAlbert HUBO2005Discontinued
  4. HUBO 2 (KHR-4)HUBO 2 (KHR-4)2008Discontinued
  5. DRC-HUBODRC-HUBO2015Retired
  6. PibotPibot2023Prototype

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) also makes 1 machine. See every KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) robot

Made, sold and where

Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.

Price
Not published
How to get one
No official buying page found
Built
One-off research robot; count not published
Where it is sold or used
South Korea

News

The latest 1, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.

  1. Albert HUBO unveiled at the APEC summit

    KAIST and Hanson Robotics presented the Einstein-faced HUBO at APEC in November 2005.

    KAIST and Hanson Robotics / IEEE

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. Few robots match closely, so these are the nearest matches. How we choose

Full comparison
MeasureAlbert HUBOAlbert HUBOKAIST Hubo Lab and Hanson RoboticsQRIO (SDR-4X)QRIO (SDR-4X)SonySame job: social · Both walk · Both past robots
First shown2005-112002-03-19
StatusDiscontinuedDiscontinued
Height137 cm58 cm
Weight57 kg6.5 kg
Joints6638
Speed1.2 km/h1.1 km/h
Payload——
Battery2 h1 h
Price——

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

KAIST and Hanson Robotics / IEEE Design of Android type Humanoid Robot Albert HUBO Seoul National University of Science and Technology Design of android type humanoid robot Albert HUBO Wikipedia HUBO (Albert HUBO section and version table) Logo: KAIST, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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