Korea Institute of Science and Technology · research humanoid
KIBO
A child-sized biped with a cartoon-like expressive face that recognises faces and objects, follows spoken commands and finds its way using a camera that reads patterns on the ceiling.
- Price
- —hardware cost reported as about $270,000 (not a sale price)
- Height
- —Not published
- Weight
- —Not published
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- —Not published
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Why it matters
A research humanoid from Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).
Real-world use
No customers or deployments reported yet.
Timeline
- First shown
- 2011
- Released
- Not yet
Maker
Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyGovernment lab · founded 1966 · Seoul, South KoreaGovernment-funded public research institute
What it has been shown doing
We checked public videos and press for KIBO and found no clear demo of the skills we track yet.
Public attention
How much public attention KIBO 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 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Walks on legs
- Actuators & motors
- Faulhaber DC motors with harmonic drives and belt-pulley transmissions. 44 DoF: head and face 17, arms 6 each, hands 1 each, waist 1, legs 6 each.
- Hands
- 1 DoF per hand.
- Sensors & vision
- Stereo cameras as eyes; an upward-facing camera that navigates by recognising patterns on the ceiling; Microsoft Kinect; ultrasonic sensors; six-axis force/torque sensors in the feet; three-axis inertial sensor; microphones.
- Compute
- Intel Core2 embedded PC.
- Battery & power
- Battery 'power backpack'; about 30 minutes of operation.
- Materials & build
- White and black shell with a clear cover over parts of the body ( photo captions).
- AI & software
- Linux with the RTAI real-time extension; face and object recognition, spoken-command understanding and ceiling-pattern navigation.
- Other details
- Cartoon-like expressive face that can lip-sync to songs; designed to give hugs.
Named suppliers:IntelHarmonic DriveMicrosoft (Kinect)FAULHABER
Lineage
Every Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) humanoid in order.
Watch KIBO
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- Not publishedhardware cost reported as about $270,000 (not a sale price)
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Sold or delivered
- not sold; hardware cost reported as $270,000 (hardware only)
- Where it is sold or used
- Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), South Korea
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 | No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useKIBOKorea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) | No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useMex-One (Mexone)Cinvestav Guadalajara (Eduardo Bayro-Corrochano's team)Same job: social · Both walk · Both research platforms |  KOBIANWaseda UniversitySame job: social · Both walk · Both research platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2011 | 2011-07 | 2009 |
| Status | Research | Research | Research |
| Height | — | 105 cm | — |
| Weight | — | 15 kg | — |
| Joints | — | — | — |
| Speed | — | — | — |
| Payload | — | — | — |
| Battery | — | — | — |
| Price | — | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. 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