A full-size humanoid robot named Adam has captured global attention by executing the Charleston, a dance renowned for its demanding timing, balance, and coordination. The demonstration, according to its developers at PNDbotics, signifies a pivotal shift in humanoid robotics from basic locomotion to expressive, whole-body movement.
Adam’s impressive performance is powered by 41 degrees of freedom and a high-torque, low-latency control system, allowing for fast, precise, and human-like motion. Engineers emphasize that the dance is not merely entertainment but a rigorous systems-level stress test, marking significant progress toward humanoid robots capable of complex real-world tasks alongside humans.
Humanoid Control Leap
In August 2025, PNDbotics unveiled Adam, their full-sized humanoid robot, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Now, a recent YouTube video showcases Adam performing the Charleston with remarkable speed, balance, and coordination. This high-energy routine underscores advances in full-scale humanoid control, placing Adam among the most dynamically capable robots to date.
Standing at 1.6 meters tall and weighing 132 pounds (60 kilograms), Adam is designed for high agility and precision. The robot features 41 degrees of freedom, enabling complex, human-like joint coordination, while custom high-torque actuators deliver hundreds of newton-metres of force for rapid jumps, pivots, and sudden directional changes. These capabilities allow Adam to execute complex movements without sacrificing stability.
According to RoboHub, the fluidity of Adam’s routine is driven by optimized trajectory-planning algorithms that smooth transitions between steps, avoiding the rigid motions often seen in humanoid robots. Additional expressiveness comes from three degrees of freedom in the waist and two in the wrists, adding subtle, human-like flair. A high-speed, low-latency communication network keeps control loops tightly synchronized, ensuring each movement stays precisely on beat.
AI-Powered Humanoids
Alongside Adam, PNDbotics has introduced Adam-U, a stationary humanoid platform developed in collaboration with Noitom Robotics and Inspire Robots. Designed for AI research and training, Adam-U integrates Noitom’s motion-capture technology with Inspire’s RH56E2 six-degree-of-freedom dexterous hands.
The platform boasts 31 degrees of freedom, including fully articulated hands, a multi-DOF waist with braking, a movable head, and binocular vision, providing human-like perception and dexterity. Building on Adam-U, PNDbotics recently unveiled the Adam-U Ultra, a humanoid robot designed to advance autonomous manipulation and learning capabilities.
According to PNDbotics, Adam-U Ultra is a versatile humanoid robot designed for rapid adaptation and real-world deployment. Equipped with precision quasi-direct drive (QDD) joints, it delivers enhanced control, stability, and performance across a wide range of autonomous manipulation tasks.
Adam-U Ultra comes preloaded with a vision–language–action (VLA) large model and a comprehensive dataset of over 10,000 real-world samples, enabling the robot to learn and execute new skills within hours, significantly shortening setup and training times.
PNDbotics provides these datasets at no additional cost, helping users adapt the robot to new environments and tasks more efficiently. A company’s YouTube video showcases the full workflow, including data collection, model post-training, and deployment, supported by professional post-training services.
Implications for the Future
The introduction of Adam and its successors represents a significant leap in the capabilities of humanoid robots. By bridging the gap between research and practical applications, PNDbotics aims to position Adam-U Ultra as a unified, flexible platform suitable for industrial, commercial, and educational applications with minimal configuration required.
This development follows a broader trend in robotics where the focus is increasingly on creating machines that can seamlessly integrate into human environments. As humanoid robots become more capable and adaptable, they are likely to play a crucial role in various sectors, from manufacturing to healthcare, and even in everyday household tasks.
Looking ahead, the continued evolution of humanoid robotics promises to reshape industries and redefine human-robot interaction. As these machines become more sophisticated, the potential for collaboration between humans and robots grows, paving the way for a future where robots are not just tools, but partners in innovation and productivity.
