Robot model
K2 Bumblebee
Kepler Robotics (legally Shanghai Kepler Exploration Robot; founded 2023 in Pudong, Shanghai; CEO Hu Debo) makes the K2 Bumblebee, a fifth-generation full-size…
- Manufacturer
- Kepler Robotics
- Form factor
- humanoid
- Maturity
- pilot
- Lifecycle
- active
- Deployments
- 1
Overview
Kepler Robotics (legally Shanghai Kepler Exploration Robot; founded 2023 in Pudong, Shanghai; CEO Hu Debo) makes the K2 Bumblebee, a fifth-generation full-size industrial humanoid notable for its proprietary planetary roller-screw linear actuators and a straight-knee hybrid gait. Verified specs include 175 cm, 75 kg, 52 degrees of freedom, 80-plus sensors, 100 TOPS of onboard compute, about 15 kg of payload per arm, and roughly eight hours of runtime, at a list price of RMB 248,000 (about $34,000). It was shown independently at ICRA 2025, and units entered real-world testing at an SAIC-GM auto plant in Shanghai for quality checks and material-bin transport, corroborated across multiple outlets; the company is now reportedly controlled by the A-share-listed Tao Motor via acquisition. The registry records it at pilot maturity rather than commercial: Kepler's own 'world's first commercially available' and 'mass production' framing names zero end customers and quantifies demand only as framework agreements for several thousand units, which is a claim rather than booked orders. The strongest verifiable signal is the SAIC-GM plant testing, not a commercial supply contract, so volume shipments, the unnamed framework agreements, and a secondary-blog wheel-hub deployment are recorded as claimed-but-not-verified.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- pilot(Small-scale deployment in controlled or trial conditions.)
- Verified deployments
- 1 deployment on file
- Sources on file
- 5 sources, view all
Key facts
Height
Weight
DOF
Sensor suite
Payload
Runtime
Price
Specs
Dof
Hands
Notes
Specs
Ai system
Height cm
Weight kg
Form Factor
Payload kg
Runtime hours
To scale
Data & sources
Press releases
1
News coverage
1
Web sources
3
5 sources backing this record.View all →
Availability and pricing
- Availability
- Shipping now
- Price
- $34K (actual sale price)as of 2025-09-01
- Units in field
- Not disclosed
- Sales model
- Not disclosed
- Lead time
- Enterprise framework orders
Pricing
One-time purchase
$34,000 USDactual sale priceas of 2025-09-01
Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.
Prices verified as of Sep 1, 2025
Deployments (1)
- K2 Bumblebee at Shanghai, Chinaoperational
Kepler K2 Bumblebee humanoid robots deployed at SAIC-GM's automotive manufacturing facility in Shanghai, handling transportation of 20 kg material bins in logistics operations.
K2 Bumblebee on the deployment map
Where K2 Bumblebee is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Kepler Forerunner K2 humanoid
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Price point recorded: $34,000VerifiedSep 1, 2025
Actual sale price
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedSep 1, 2025
at Shanghai, China
- Price point recordedJan 1, 2025
Not announced
Manufacturer-attributed media (1)
Manufacturer-supplied media at the model level. Not tied to an independently verified named-site deployment. Verification posture is product-showcase from the maker, distinct from the deployment-verified evidence in the section above.
Kepler Robotics' introduction of its Forerunner K2 humanoid. A cinematic product-intro film; the capability montage is a maker demonstration.
Safety record
No incidents on record for K2 Bumblebee.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (5)
- https://www.therobotreport.com/kepler-robotics-showcases-k2-bumblebee-icra-2025/
- https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-kepler-humanoid-robot-shanghai-plant
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/worlds-first-commercially-available-hybrid-architecture-humanoid-robot-moves-into-mass-production-kepler-marks-the-start-of-a-new-industrial-era-302568138.html
- https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/kepler-debuts-k2-humanoid-robot
- https://www.gasgoo.com/news/70036000.html
Compare K2 Bumblebee
Common questions
- What is K2 Bumblebee?
- Kepler Robotics (legally Shanghai Kepler Exploration Robot; founded 2023 in Pudong, Shanghai; CEO Hu Debo) makes the K2 Bumblebee, a fifth-generation full-size industrial humanoid notable for its proprietary planetary roller-screw linear actuators and a straight-knee hybrid gait. Verified specs include 175 cm, 75 kg, 52 degrees of freedom, 80-plus sensors, 100 TOPS of onboard compute, about 15 kg of payload per arm, and roughly eight hours of runtime, at a list price of RMB 248,000 (about $34,000). It was shown independently at ICRA 2025, and units entered real-world testing at an SAIC-GM auto plant in Shanghai for quality checks and material-bin transport, corroborated across multiple outlets; the company is now reportedly controlled by the A-share-listed Tao Motor via acquisition. The registry records it at pilot maturity rather than commercial: Kepler's own 'world's first commercially available' and 'mass production' framing names zero end customers and quantifies demand only as framework agreements for several thousand units, which is a claim rather than booked orders. The strongest verifiable signal is the SAIC-GM plant testing, not a commercial supply contract, so volume shipments, the unnamed framework agreements, and a secondary-blog wheel-hub deployment are recorded as claimed-but-not-verified.
- How much does K2 Bumblebee cost?
- K2 Bumblebee is listed at $34,000 on the DEPLOY registry. This is an actual sale price on record.
- Is K2 Bumblebee actually deployed in the real world?
- Yes. K2 Bumblebee is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
- Is K2 Bumblebee autonomous or teleoperated?
- Not verified as fully autonomous. K2 Bumblebee's capabilities on the DEPLOY registry are recorded as teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-only, or vendor claims (Picks and packs), not independently confirmed to run without a human in the loop.
- What are the specs of K2 Bumblebee?
- K2 Bumblebee's recorded specifications on the DEPLOY registry: Degrees of freedom: 52; Height: 175; Weight: 75; Payload: 15. See the Specs section for the full sourced set.
- Who makes K2 Bumblebee?
- K2 Bumblebee is made by Kepler Robotics, based in Shanghai, China, founded in 2023.
- Where is K2 Bumblebee deployed?
- 1 verified deployment of K2 Bumblebee is on the DEPLOY registry, including at Shanghai, China.
- Can you buy K2 Bumblebee?
- K2 Bumblebee is available for purchase - a real sale price is on record (see the pricing section for the figure and its source).
- What are alternatives to K2 Bumblebee?
- On the DEPLOY registry, comparable humanoid robots to K2 Bumblebee include Digit, Walker S2, Apollo, Unitree H2 Plus.
- How does K2 Bumblebee compare to Digit?
- K2 Bumblebee and Digit (Agility Robotics · 8 deployments) are both humanoid robots on the DEPLOY registry. K2 Bumblebee has 1 verified deployment on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
- Is K2 Bumblebee a top humanoid?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, K2 Bumblebee ranks in roughly the top 53% of humanoid models tracked by the registry.
- What is K2 Bumblebee's maturity stage?
- K2 Bumblebee is at the pilot stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Pilot stage means at least one named-customer trial deployment is verified.
- Is K2 Bumblebee safe?
- K2 Bumblebee has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 5 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-06-28
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-06-28
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: pilot
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: humanoid
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- secondary-trade-publication
- Trade publication
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for K2 Bumblebee.Recent coverage
K2 Bumblebee in third-party press
A-Share Company Controls Kepler, Is Humanoid Robot M&A "Opening"? - Gasgoo
Watch: Kepler's Bumblebee robot does welding like an industrial welder - India Today
Kepler Robotics Unveils K2 "Bumblebee" at IROS 2025, Building a Global Developer Ecosystem Through an Open Robotics Platform - Plataforma Media
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning K2 Bumblebee from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
A-Share Company Controls Kepler, Is Humanoid Robot M&A "Opening"? - Gasgoo
<a…
Watch: Kepler's Bumblebee robot does welding like an industrial welder - India Today
<a…
Kepler Robotics Unveils K2 "Bumblebee" at IROS 2025, Building a Global Developer Ecosystem Through an Open Robotics Platform - Plataforma Media
<a…
China's AI Robots Are Shocking The World With Their Humanoid Characteristics - SlashGear
<a…
Kepler Moves World's First Commercially Available Hybrid-Architecture Humanoid Robot Into Mass Production - AI Insider
<a…
Kepler's K2 Bumblebee is a Humanoid Robot Ready to Walk Into Factories Now, Thanks to Tesla's Hybrid Architecture - TechEBlog -
<a…
Kepler begins mass production of hybrid-architecture humanoid robot K2 Bumblebee - Robotics & Automation News
<a…
China’s humanoid robot Bumblebee now walks with human-like gait - Interesting Engineering
<a…
Kepler Robotics Announces Advanced Gait Upgrade for K2 "Bumblebee," Demonstrating the Potential of Hybrid Architecture - PR Newswire
<a…
Humanoid robots handle quality checks and assembly at auto plant - Fox News
<a…
Kepler Robotics showcases K2 ‘Bumblebee’ humanoid at ICRA 2025 - The Robot Report
<a…
Kepler debuts fifth-gen K2 humanoid robot to boost industrial automation - Interesting Engineering
<a…
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/kepler-k2.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/96ab08d5-2d7d-4a9f-8f7e-e9ec4e2e7700
- Revision history: /models/kepler-k2/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Video
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Reality vs attention
K2 Bumblebee draws attention at the 54th percentile but verifies reality at the 20th percentile among humanoids. Hype Gap +34, 9th widest among humanoids.
Analysis
Thin deployment record; scale validation still in progress.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 19, 2026