Galbot G1

What the Galbot G1 is

Galbot G1 is a wheeled humanoid robot. Its upper body is humanoid — head, torso and two arms — while its base is a wheeled chassis rather than a pair of walking legs. The robot reaches a maximum overall height of 1,730 mm, and its legs can lift through a range of 650 mm, so the upper body can be raised or lowered as a whole ^[1]. It weighs 92.5 kg and has 21 degrees of freedom not counting the chassis and the end effectors ^[1]. A degree of freedom here means one independently driven axis of motion: a shoulder that can swing in two directions contributes two, a wrist that can turn contributes another, and so on. The figure therefore describes how many ways the arms and torso can be posed, separately from how the base moves and what tool is attached at the end.

Arms, computing and power

Each arm can carry 5 kg at the wrist centre, 10 kg in total across both arms ^[1]. The onboard computing platform is a single NVIDIA AGX Orin 64GB module rated at 275 TOPS ^[1]. TOPS counts trillions of operations per second, a common shorthand for how much neural-network inference a machine can run by itself — which matters for a robot that has to recognise objects and plan grasps on the spot rather than wait for a remote server.

Power comes from a 48 V 30 Ah battery, giving 8 hours of running time and a 3.5 hour charge ^[1]. Those numbers describe a machine sized for a working shift and a defined recharge pause, rather than a short demonstration. The robot has IP54 protection ^[1]; IP ratings are a standard classification of resistance to dust and to splashing water, a practical requirement for equipment standing in shops and warehouses.

Chassis and sensing

The base is a four-wheel omnidirectional chassis with a maximum speed of 1.5 m/s ^[1]. An omnidirectional chassis can move sideways and turn in place as well as drive forward, which helps a tall machine position itself in narrow aisles without a long turning manoeuvre.

The sensor set is broad: a stereo camera in the head, four RGB cameras on the torso, two depth cameras at the wrists, two six-axis force sensors at the wrists, a 3D lidar and eight ultrasonic sensors ^[1]. The arrangement follows the logic of a mobile manipulator. Cameras and lidar locate objects and the robot itself in a room; the wrist depth cameras give a close-up view of whatever is about to be picked up; the six-axis force sensors measure the forces and torques at the hand, which is how a robot controls contact when pushing a suction cup against a surface or closing a gripper on an object; ultrasonic sensors cover short-range obstacles near the base.

The end effector can be swapped between a dexterous hand, a suction cup and a gripper ^[1]. That means one platform can take a bottle with suction, lift a box with a gripper, or use the hand for objects that need finger-level manipulation, instead of dedicating a different robot to each task.

Where it has been deployed

Galbot says the robot has been deployed at more than 170 sites across over 40 Chinese cities in its unmanned retail cabins ^[1]. It also says its instant-retail warehouse customers run 24-hour operations and have worked continuously for more than a year and a half ^[1]. Retail cabins and small warehouses are enclosed, repetitive settings with shelves at predictable heights — conditions that suit a wheeled platform with a lifting leg and swappable tools, and that keep the robot in steady use rather than in occasional trials.

Where it sits among humanoid robots

The G1 belongs to a group of machines that keep a humanoid upper body but put it on wheels. Wheels are simpler and more stable than legs on flat indoor floors, and the 650 mm lift on the legs takes over the job of reaching high and low shelves. The rest of the specification — an onboard inference module, a battery rated for eight hours, dust and splash protection, force sensing at the wrists — describes a robot aimed at continuous work in shops and warehouses rather than at research demonstrations.