Kinisi  KR1

The Kinisi KR1, also known as Kinisi 01, is a wheeled-base humanoid robot developed by Kinisi Robotics, a US-UK startup founded in January 2024 by robotics expert Brennand Pierce. Standing at 162 cm tall and weighing approximately 100 kg, the KR1 is engineered for practical, real-world applications in warehouses, logistics, manufacturing, retail, and maintenance, addressing labor shortages through high-speed mobility, human-level strength, and precision manipulation. Unlike legged humanoids, its omnidirectional wheeled base with active suspension and zero-turn radius enables top speeds of up to 2.4 m/s (8.64-14.4 km/h reported variably), superior stability on flat industrial floors, and efficient navigation in dynamic environments without the energy inefficiency of bipedal locomotion. Architecturally, the KR1 features a fully vertically integrated stack, encompassing custom motion hardware, perception AI, and control systems for seamless performance. The mechanical design includes aluminum structural framing, BLDC motors paired with strain wave (harmonic) gears for high torque and precision, 21 degrees of freedom overall (2 in hands), and modular quick-swap grippers supporting vacuum end-effectors for versatile manipulation. Payload capacity reaches 25 kg dynamic and 40 kg static, with 20 kg lifting strength, allowing handling of fragile items, heavy boxes, high-shelf picks, sorting, assembly, and even towel folding via imitation learning. The AI architecture is edge-deployed for sub-100ms perception-to-action latency, powered by NVIDIA Jetson processors running Linux OS with Wi-Fi connectivity and IP65 ingress protection. Perception fuses multi-modal sensors: stereo depth cameras for ±2 mm accuracy at 2 m, 180° LiDAR array with SLAM for spatial awareness, and inertial inputs for dynamic balance. Real-time transformer models enable environment mapping, motion prediction, and adaptation. Intelligence leverages imitation learning—robots observe human demonstrations (no coding required) to generalize tasks across variations, supported by a data flywheel where fleet data improves collective performance. Agentic AI handles autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and decision-making in a continuous sensing-reasoning-actuation loop, with optional semi-autonomous or tele-op modes. Safety is prioritized via dual redundant controllers, hardware/software e-stops, thermal/current diagnostics, and fail-safe behaviors like posture locking. Power comes from hot-swappable 48 V 20 Ah Li-ion batteries with BMS, offering 6-8 hours runtime and 90-minute rapid charge to 80%, plus auto-docking. No specific LLM is named, but integration supports LLM intelligence for advanced reasoning, as noted in early specs. Deployment history began rapidly: KR1 prototype operational by May 2024 with agentic AI. First customer visit October 2024, European on-site demo May 2025 (won NVIDIA startup challenge), V2/V3 hardware iterations by 2025. Real-world pilots include warehouse pick-and-place, glass sorting (November 2025 deployment), and infinite pick demos. Over 10k prior deployments from founder's past ventures inform scalability. Priced at ~$75k (prototype), KR1 emphasizes low-cost, cloud-independent operation for immediate ROI in shared human spaces, revolutionizing automation with proven reliability over speculative designs.