China launches world’s first robot that can run by itself 24/7 — changes its own batteries in unsettling new footage

> There are many weird and wonderful humanoid robots out there, but one of the most eye-catching machines launched this year can change its own battery pack — making it capable of running autonomously for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

> The Walker S2 robot, made by the Chinese company UBTECH, is 5 foot 3 inches (162 centimeters) tall and weighs 95 pounds (43 kilograms) — making it the size and weight of a small adult.

> Using a 48-volt lithium battery in a dual-battery system, the robot can walk for two hours or stand for four hours before its power runs out. The battery takes 90 minutes to fully recharge once depleted.

> Its most interesting feature — which UBTECH representatives say is a world first — is that instead of relying on a human operator to remove and recharge its battery pack, the machine can perform this task entirely on its own.

> The robot will **swap out its own battery in the event that one of its batteries runs out of power. It is also capable of detecting how much power it has left** and decides whether it is best to swap out one of its batteries or charge based on the priority of its tasks.

> The Walker S2, which is designed to be used in settings like factories or as a human-like robot to meet and greet customers at public venues, has 20 degrees of freedom (the number of ways that joints or mechanisms can move) and is also **compatible with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.**

I don’t understand how THIS is the most elegant design solution. I don’t find it unsettling, I find it gimmicky.

Why couldn’t you simply have the batteries in a hot swappable config on a dock or something- robot walks backwards onto the dock, it click clacks, unhooking the old battery and connecting the new one all at once? Or any number of other solutions.

Something other than whatever the hell this is lol

How many other applications for those arms going backwards like that are there?

Really just feels like something specifically engineered to be a tech demo for viral clicks, but not really worth much in the long run.

Or maybe I’m wrong and it’ll be standard on every humanoid robot on every corner in a few years. If so, remind me of my folly lol

I don’t really find this particularly unsettling, it’s very logical. My Roomba also returns to the charging station before it runs out of juice.

[removed]