If you’re missing a tennis partner to play with, UBTECH Robotics’ Walker S2 humanoid robot changes everything.
A new video released by the Chinese tech company shows the Walker S2 humanoid robot swinging a tennis racket like a pro, moving around the court and hitting the ball with apparent skill and precision.
The video plays at normal speed, and while it’s been heavily edited, it does show the robot passing the ball to a human opponent on the other side of the pitch, displaying an impressive display of technological smarts.
For a humanoid robot, playing tennis is not an easy task. It has to see the ball early, get in position, select the shot, and stay balanced and upright when swinging the racket to make contact with the ball.
But as we can see here, the Walker S2 robot’s tennis shots look smooth and controlled.
It’s unclear whether UBTECH is serious about positioning its humanoid robot as a tennis partner or if it’s just using it to show off its advanced capabilities. But with further development, it’s possible that the faster, more agile Walker S2 will be able to cover the court like a human athlete and perform as well as it should on the singles court. We might even see tennis added to the list of Robot Olympics events.
UBTECH launched the Walker S2 robot in 2024, an advanced industrial humanoid robot with autonomous battery replacement for continuous operation.
The company last made headlines in November when it released a video it claimed showed the deployment of hundreds of Walker S2 robots, which were reportedly functioning in commercial and industrial settings. However, there is some controversy over whether the video is authentic. The company insists it is genuine.
This year is expected to see even greater advances in humanoid robotics, not only in agility but also in artificial intelligence. Competition in the industry has been increasing globally, with a growing number of players including Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Unitree and 1X looking to make an impact in 2026.
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