DroidUp Walker II

Walker II (行者二号) is a lightweight bipedal humanoid from Shanghai's DroidUp. The company calls it the first modular humanoid driven by bionic tendons working with distributed motors, which allows adjustable joint stiffness. It works as an exhibition guide, a patrol robot and a stage performer, and took third place in the humanoid half marathon in Beijing's Yizhuang.

Design and technology

DroidUp's product page lists 170 cm, 32 kg and 30 DoF. One arm carries 5 kg, and the page also gives a 40 kg load figure for the robot. It climbs 15 cm steps and 30° slopes and copes with gravel and stairs. Top walking speed is given as 9 km/h (2.5 m/s), while the description also mentions a 3 m/s gait.

The drive pairs tendon-like cables with distributed motors, which DroidUp says cuts energy use by 25% versus competitors and allows up to 6 hours of dynamic operation. It carries six camera sets (depth, infrared, color) and an 8-mic array. Motion control combines model predictive control with reinforcement learning, with 6 TOPS on board and 200 TOPS in the cloud.

Applications and deployments

Walker II navigates crowds on its own, follows visitor requests and explains exhibits. DroidUp says it serves the experience center at Shanghai's Zhangjiang Robot Valley, the "AI Dream" pavilion and a HarmonyOS showroom. It is also offered for security patrols in industrial parks and for education; DroidUp runs joint labs with Shanghai high schools and the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

The robot placed third in the Yizhuang humanoid half marathon in Beijing and won its 1,500 m heat at the World Humanoid Robot Games in 11:45.90. It has appeared at JD.com's booth at the CIFTIS services fair, at the Apsara Conference (September 2025, as an inspection assistant) and in schools.

Company

Shanghai DroidUp Robot Co., Ltd. builds humanoids around three technologies: tendon drives, lifelike facial expressions and lightweight, safe structures. It also makes the expressive Rena robot and the earlier Walker I (X01), which DroidUp says set a Guinness record by walking more than 100 km. Dr Mou Haiming is co-founder and CTO. No price is published for Walker II; orders go through sales inquiries.

Timeline

• 2025 Walker II places third in the Yizhuang humanoid half marathon
• 2025-08 Wins its 1,500 m heat at the World Humanoid Robot Games
• 2025-09 Shown as an inspection assistant at the Apsara Conference

Sources

1. 双足人形机器人 行者二号 (Walker II product page), DroidUp (2026-10)
2. 关于我们 (About DroidUp), DroidUp (2026-10)
3. 新闻资讯 (DroidUp news), DroidUp (2026-10)

Updated: 2026-10-10

Compared with the catalogue

• At 170 cm the DroidUp Walker II is taller than 43% of the humanoids in the catalogue (median: 170 cm).
• It has 30 degrees of freedom against a catalogue median of 28; more degrees of freedom usually means finer arm and hand movement.
• Its weight of 32 kg (catalogue median: 65 kg) matters for transport and for working around people.
• It is the only DroidUp model in the catalogue and one of 128 humanoids from China.

Capabilities