Samsung Electronics with KIST · research humanoid
Roboray
Samsung's research biped with torque-controlled, partly tendon-driven legs that walked with straight knees for a more natural, efficient gait, recovered from pushes and later built real-time 3D maps with Bristol University vision software. It succeeded the bent-knee Mahru 3 (2007). DoF excludes fingers.
- Price
- —Not published
- Height
- 150 cmTaller than 34%
- Weight
- 62 kgHeavier than 51%
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- —Not published
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Why it matters
A retired humanoid from Samsung Electronics (robotics division) with KIST.
Real-world use
No customers or deployments reported yet.
Maker
Samsung Electronics with KISTCompany · founded 1969 · Suwon, South Koreapublic company (KRX: 005930)
How it stacks up
Against other humanoids that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
Roboray is taller than 34% of the 305 other humanoids that publish a height. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Roboray is heavier than 51% of the 277 other humanoids that publish a weight. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Roboray has more joints than 54% of the 236 other humanoids that publish a joints. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: speed, payload, battery, 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
- 2 news stories 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 · 32 joints
- Actuators & motors
- Torque-controlled joints: harmonic-drive actuators plus compliant tendon-driven actuators in the hips, knees and ankles with adjustable stiffness to absorb impacts. 32 joints excluding fingers (New Atlas); Bristol counted 53 actuators, including 6 per leg and 12 per hand.
- Hands
- 12 actuators per hand (University of Bristol, 2013).
- Sensors & vision
- Stereo camera in the head (University of Bristol).
- AI & software
- Balancing and walking control for straight-knee dynamic walking (IROS 2012 paper by SAIT); real-time 3D visual SLAM mapping from the University of Bristol; face and speech recognition under development in 2012.
- Other details
- Walks by falling forward into each step, which the team says uses less energy and looks more human than bent-knee gaits like Mahru-3's.
Named suppliers:Harmonic Drive
From the maker
Roboray is the only humanoid from Samsung Electronics (robotics division) with KIST in the atlas.
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
- Sold or delivered
- not sold (research project)
- Where it is sold or used
- Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) with KIST, South Korea
News
The latest 2, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Roboray learns to map rooms in 3D
Bristol researchers gave Samsung's biped vision software to build live 3D maps and remember where it has been.
University of Bristol - Samsung shows straight-legged Roboray at IROS
Samsung presented its torque-controlled, partly tendon-driven biped at IROS 2012 in Portugal.
New Atlas
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
| Measure | RoboraySamsung Electronics (robotics division) with KIST |  ARMAR-4Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (H2T, Tamim Asfour)Same job: research · Both walk · Both past robots · Similar size |  HRP-4Kawada Industries and AISTSame job: research · Both walk · Both past robots · Similar size |  Surena IIIUniversity of Tehran, Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies (CAST)Same job: research · Both walk · Both past robots · Similar size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2012-10 | 2012 | 2010-09 | 2015-11 |
| Status | Retired | Retired | Discontinued | Retired |
| Height | 150 cm | 170 cm | 151 cm | 190 cm |
| Weight | 62 kg | 70 kg | 39 kg | 98 kg |
| Joints | 32 | 63 | 34 | 31 |
| Speed | — | — | — | — |
| Payload | — | — | — | — |
| Battery | — | — | — | — |
| Price | — | — | $305,000 | — |
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
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