Robotera Star 1

STAR1 is a full-size bipedal humanoid from Beijing-based Robot Era (RobotEra), a Tsinghua University spin-off. Launched in August 2024, it became known for a 3.6 m/s run in the Gobi Desert and serves as a general-purpose platform for logistics, services and research.

History and launch

STAR1 was Robot Era's first product-grade humanoid, introduced in August 2024.

In October 2024 the company released a Gobi Desert video in which two STAR1 units, one in running shoes and one barefoot, raced over grass, gravel and roads. The shod robot reached about 3.6 m/s (close to 13 km/h) and, according to the company, held the pace for over 34 minutes. That beat the roughly 3.3 m/s Unitree had claimed for the H1 in March 2024. The figures are company-reported and not independently verified.

Design and hardware

STAR1 is 171 cm tall and weighs about 65 kg. Robot Era's published URDF model lists 55 degrees of freedom: 6 per leg, 7 per arm, 12 per hand, 3 in the waist and 2 in the head.

High-torque electric motors drive the legs; industry databases cite up to 400 Nm joint torque and 25 rad/s joint speed. The hands come from Robot Era's own XHAND line, also sold separately as the 12-DoF XHAND1.

Software and AI

Walking and running are controlled by AI-based algorithms. In December 2024 the company introduced ERA-42, a multimodal vision-language-action model meant to drive manipulation across its robots, STAR1 included.

Deployments

Caixin reported that logistics firm Riamb tested STAR1 for transport and scanning, and named Haier and Lenovo among Robot Era's clients. The company had delivered more than 200 robots across models by June 2025; 36Kr later cited cumulative orders above RMB 500 million, about half from abroad.

Newer models include the bipedal L7 and the wheeled Q5.

Company

Beijing Robot Era Technology was founded in August 2023 by Chen Jianyu, a Tsinghua graduate with a UC Berkeley PhD who has been an assistant professor at Tsinghua's Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences since 2020. The university holds equity.

Funding includes a Pre-A round (October 2024, about RMB 300 million, with Alibaba and Lenovo Capital), Series A (July 2025, nearly RMB 500 million, led by CDH Investments and Haier Capital), Series A+ (November 2025, nearly RMB 1 billion, led by Geely Capital) and a strategic round (March 2026, RMB 1 billion at a valuation above RMB 10 billion).

Price and availability

Robot Era does not publish a price for STAR1; it sells to businesses and research institutions.

Timeline

• 2023-08 Robot Era founded
• 2024-08 STAR1 launched
• 2024-10 3.6 m/s Gobi Desert run; Pre-A round
• 2024-12 ERA-42 AI model introduced
• 2025-07 Series A of nearly RMB 500 million
• 2025-11 Series A+ led by Geely Capital
• 2026-03 Strategic round, valuation above RMB 10 billion

Sources

1. Chinese humanoid robot Star1 breaks speed record while running, heise online (2024-10-21)
2. Humanoid robotics startup Robot Era secures $69 million Series A funding, Caixin Global (2025-07-08)
3. Robot Era funding and company profile, 36Kr (2026-03)
4. STAR1 Robot URDF Description, RobotEra (GitHub) (2024)
5. Star-1 database entry, Humanoid Press (2026)

Updated: 2026-10-10

Compared with the catalogue

• At 171 cm the Robotera Star 1 is taller than 56% of the humanoids in the catalogue (median: 170 cm).
• It has 55 degrees of freedom against a catalogue median of 28; more degrees of freedom usually means finer arm and hand movement.
• Its weight of 65 kg (catalogue median: 65 kg) matters for transport and for working around people.
• It is one of 2 Robotera models in the catalogue and one of 128 humanoids from China.

Capabilities