Humanoid & robot atlas
WABIAN-2
Photo: British Embassy TokyoUK in Japan- FCO, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
RetiredSucceeded by TWENDY-ONE Japan

Waseda University / JST Moonshot program · research humanoid

WABIAN-2

A full-size biped built on the 2005 WABIAN-2/LL leg machine (7-DoF legs, 2-DoF waist) with an upper body that bends and twists, so it could lean on and push a walker; it was used to test walking aids for older people before human trials. A revised WABIAN-2R later studied human-like heel-to-toe walking.

Price
—Not published
Height
—Not published
Weight
—Not published
Payload
—Not published
Speed
—Not published
Battery
—Not published
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Why it matters

Described as the first robot built to help makers test walking-assistance devices.

Real-world use

No customers or deployments reported yet.

Timeline

First shown
2006-05
Released
Not yet
Reported by EE Times (22 May 2006) as a robot to test walking-assistance devices

Maker

Waseda University / JST Moonshot programUniversity lab · founded 1882 · Tokyo, Japan

Government research funding through the JST Moonshot programme (amount not stated).

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 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured

What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement
Walks on legs
Hands
Arms were built to bear the robot's weight while pushing a walker; no dexterous hand described in the sources read.
AI & software
Walking patterns generated with the zero-moment-point (ZMP) criterion; a genetic algorithm tuned walking parameters for smooth heel-contact and toe-off foot trajectories (2008 paper).
Other details
Trunk that rotates and bends so it can lean on and push a walker; built to give makers of walking aids a quantitative human-like test subject. A later foot design added one passive toe joint, and walking was checked against human data using ground-reaction-force measurements.

Lineage

Every Waseda University (Atsuo Takanishi lab) with Kanagawa University humanoid in order.

  1. WABOT-1WABOT-11973Retired
  2. WABOT-2WABOT-21984Retired
  3. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useHadaly-21997Retired
  4. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWABIAN1997Retired
  5. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWE-4RII2004Retired
  6. WABIAN-2WABIAN-22006Retired
  7. TWENDY-ONETWENDY-ONE2007Research
  8. KOBIANKOBIAN2009Research
  9. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useWaseda Flutist Robot WF-4RVI2011Retired
  10. No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useAIREC (Dry-AIREC)2025Research

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
1 research platform (later revised as WABIAN-2R)
Sold or delivered
not sold
Where it is sold or used
Waseda University (Takanishi lab), Tokyo, with Kanagawa University, Yokohama

News

The latest 2, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.

  1. Paper shows WABIAN-2 walking heel-to-toe like a person

    A Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics paper reported a passive-toe foot and optimised gait that made WABIAN-2's walking resemble human walking.

    Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (Fuji Technology Press)
  2. Waseda biped built to test walking aids

    EE Times reported WABIAN-2 as the first robot designed to help makers test walkers and other walking-assistance devices.

    EE Times

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
MeasureWABIAN-2WABIAN-2Waseda University (Atsuo Takanishi lab) with Kanagawa UniversityToyota Partner Robot (violin-playing)Toyota Partner Robot (violin-playing)Toyota Motor CorporationSame job: care · Both walk · Both past robots
First shown2006-052007-12-06
StatusRetiredRetired
Height—152 cm
Weight—56 kg
Joints——
Speed——
Payload——
Battery——
Price——

Sources

Figures come from a published paper. Every link below backs something on this page.

EE Times Robot designed to help test walking-assistance devices (WABIAN-2) Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (Fuji Technology Press) WABIAN-2 paper Logo: Waseda University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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