Xiaomi unveils humanoid robot CyberOne

I was both nervous and thrilled to interact with him on stage. What did you think of his performance tonight? #CyberOne pic.twitter.com/Je1eXDYEGR

— Lei Jun (@leijun) August 11, 2022

Mix Fold 2’s introduction during Xiaomi’s launch event in Beijing turned heads, but the spotlight was stolen rapidly after a humanoid robot named ‘CyberOne’ entered the stage to hand the company CEO Lei Jun a flower.

It is no surprise that Xiaomi presented the public with a robot during the event, given that it had previously released Cyberdog. Other companies also have their own pride to brag, such as the bartender robot of Macco Robotics, the dog-like Spot robot of Boston Dynamics, Bex of Kawasaki, and more. However, what’s surprising about CyberOne is its promising features and capabilities Xiaomi claims to have.

The story of #CyberOne is one of embarking on a new journey of exploration in the field of intelligent robots. We still have a long way to go, but we always believe that something wonderful is about to happen. pic.twitter.com/eQQCxl6p1B

— Lei Jun (@leijun) August 11, 2022

Jun posted on Twitter a 3-minute demonstration of the robot, showing it walking, recognizing obstacles on its path, and even recognizing lifeforms like ants and flowers. Of course, the robot itself could perform differently in real life, but Xiaomi’s claims are very promising.

In the event, the robot walked into the floor in small steps but what’s surprising was how it conversed with Jun by introducing itself and answering questions smoothly. Presumably, CyberOne’s responses were pre-recorded since no company has still perfected AI to converse flawlessly. (Remember how Meta’s BlenderBot 3 opposed its own opinion about Mark Zuckerberg?) However, in a statement shared by Xiaomi, the company stated that the robot has a very specific set of technology that can allow it to be aware of its surroundings and even comprehend emotions.

Humanoid robots rely on vision to process their surroundings. Equipped with a self-developed Mi-Sense depth vision module and combined with an AI interaction algorithm, CyberOne is capable of perceiving 3D space, as well as recognizing individuals, gestures, and expressions, allowing it to not only see but to process its environment. In order to communicate with the world, CyberOne is equipped with a self-developed MiAI environment semantics recognition engine and a MiAI vocal emotion identification engine, enabling it to recognize 85 types of environmental sounds and 45 classifications of human emotion. CyberOne is able to detect happiness, and even comfort the user in times of sadness. All of these features are integrated into CyberOne’s processing units, which are paired with a curved OLED module to display real-time interactive information.

CyberOne’s performance in the event was undeniably amusing, but it is not sufficient proof of how it would behave in real-life scenarios. There are also no other details of Xiaomi’s plans for it, but in case the company’s claims are true (which should, of course, should be taken with a pinch of salt), CyberOne would open a whole new world of possibilities for the robot tech industry.