Hanson Robotics · social humanoid
Sophia
A lifelike humanoid head and torso with expressive rubber skin, mostly scripted or teleoperated conversation, built by David Hanson's Hong Kong company. Body variants over the years include a seated torso, a wheeled base and a version with legs.
- Price
- —Not published
- Height
- —Not published
- Weight
- —Not published
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- —Not published
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
First robot granted citizenship by a country (Saudi Arabia, October 2017), making it the most famous social humanoid of its time.
Real-world use
Appeared at hundreds of conferences, TV shows and the United Nations from 2016; later versions added arms, hands and a rolling or legged lower body.
Maker
Hanson RoboticsCompany · founded 2007 · Richardson, Texas, USA in 2007 (later Hong Kong)USD 1.5 million Texas Emerging Technology Fund grant (2006)
What it has been shown doing
We checked public videos and press for Sophia and found no clear demo of the skills we track yet.
Public attention
#13 of 377 current humanoids in public attention.
- 24,757 views of its Wikipedia article in the last 90 days (Sophia (robot))
- 4 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 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Stationary
- Actuators & motors
- Servos throughout: in the head and face five Dynamixel XM430 and 23 Xpert servos, eyes two Hitec HS-65MG, neck three XM430, and per arm a mix of Dynamixel MX64/MX106/XM430, Xpert and MKS servos.
- Hands
- Servo-driven fingers with touch sensors; 15 DoF per arm and hand.
- Sensors & vision
- Custom wide-angle 1080p chest camera, Intel RealSense depth camera, two 720p eye cameras, USB microphone and audio-localisation array, joint angle and force sensors in the arms, finger touch sensors and an IMU.
- Compute
- 3 GHz Intel Core i7 with 32 GB RAM and integrated GPU.
- Battery & power
- 24 V lithium-polymer battery or 110/220 V mains supply.
- Materials & build
- Frubber actuated skin over carbon fibre, CNC aluminium, steel, Spectra fibre, Delrin, acrylic, polycarbonate and 3D-printed parts.
- AI & software
- Facial and speech recognition, natural language processing, speech synthesis and motion control; eye cameras and a chest 3D sensor provide vision (Associated Press, 2018). OpenCog integrated with Hanson AI controlled Sophia in a structured dialogue experiment (Iklé et al., 2018).
- Other details
- Can animate more than 60 facial expressions (Hanson Robotics, 2018 press kit).
Named suppliers:IntelIntel RealSenseROBOTIS (Dynamixel)
Lineage
Every Hanson Robotics humanoid in order.
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; used for appearances, research and licensing
- Where it is sold or used
- Appearances worldwide
News
The latest 4, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Humanoid robot Sophia’s NFT artwork fetches nearly $700,000
Sophia’s digital artwork Sophia Instantiation, made with Andrea Bonaceto and accompanied by a physical self-portrait, sold for US$688,888.
Reuters (published by Daily Sabah) - Humanoid robot Sophia’s NFT artwork fetches nearly $700,000
The Sophia Instantiation NFT, accompanied by a physical self-portrait painted by Sophia, sold for US$688,888.
Reuters (published by Daily Sabah) - Lifelike robots made in Hong Kong meant to win over humans
Sophia demonstrated walking on robotic legs at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.
Associated Press - Sophia — Hanson Robotics speaker biography
Sophia made her debut at South by Southwest in March 2016.
KPMG Events
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 | SophiaHanson Robotics | No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useJia JiaUniversity of Science and Technology of ChinaSame job: social · Both fixed in place · Both research platforms |  ERICAOsaka University, Kyoto University and ATR (JST ERATO Ishiguro project)Same job: social · Both fixed in place · Both research platforms |  NadineNanyang Technological University (Institute for Media Innovation)Same job: social · Both fixed in place · Both research platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2016-03 | 2016-04-15 | 2015-08 | 2015-12 |
| Status | Research | Research | Research | Research |
| Height | — | — | — | — |
| Weight | — | — | — | — |
| Joints | — | — | — | — |
| Speed | — | — | — | — |
| Payload | — | — | — | — |
| Battery | — | — | — | — |
| Price | — | — | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from public sources. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use