EngineAI

For years you could identify a humanoid robot from fifty metres by its walk: knees bent, steps short, the cautious shuffle of a machine negotiating with gravity. EngineAI ended the shuffle. The Shenzhen company, founded in October 2023 and known in China as Zhongqing, made its name with something deceptively simple, bipeds that walk like commuters, long strides on straightened legs, heels rolling naturally, driven by end to end neural network gait optimisation rather than the conservative crouch of classical control, and the videos of that walk, followed by machines running, performing front flips and swinging through axe dances, did what specification sheets cannot: they made the industry's most watched demonstrations. The company's stated mission completes the picture, turning laboratory video skills into products that can be mass produced and delivered, on a hardware foundation it builds itself, full stack self developed joints with in joint wiring and dual encoders, engineered to hold performance, cost and durability in the same hand.

The lineup ladders that capability across three machines. The SA01 opens the range as the open source biped for educators, laboratories and developers. The PM01 is the dynamic star: 1.38 metres and around 40 kilogrammes, 24 degrees of freedom crowned by a 320 degree rotating waist, walking at 2 metres per second in both mechanical and natural humanoid gait modes, replicating human motion through optical capture and end to end networks, and computing on a dual architecture of Intel x86 and NVIDIA Jetson Orin behind a chest screen interface the company cheerfully credits to Iron Man. And the SE01 is the full size flagship: 170 centimetres, roughly 55 kilogrammes and 32 degrees of freedom, perceiving through the LiDAR assisted 360 degree Engine Sense suite, built on an aluminium chassis specified for a ten year design life, EngineAI's general purpose answer for industrial and commercial floors, with a heavy duty class machine in scene verification above it.

Within the wider humanoid and bipedal categories, the full EngineAI range for sale can be explored through this page.

Background

Why the walk matters

EngineAI's gait obsession is engineering economics in disguise. The bent knee shuffle exists because it is easy to stabilise, but it wastes energy, limits speed, accelerates joint wear and unsettles the humans watching; a natural, straight legged stride is harder to control and better at everything else. By solving it with end to end neural networks trained on human motion, EngineAI banked advantages that compound across every product, efficiency, pace, longevity and the intangible one, machines whose movement reads as competence rather than caution, the quality its viral demonstrations monetised.

Full stack, deliberately

Beneath the choreography sits the company's second thesis: own the joints. Self developed actuator modules with internal wiring and dual encoders give EngineAI its torque, precision and reliability targets without supplier margins or compromises, the vertical integration that lets a 2023 founded startup price an open research biped, field a full size flagship and demonstrate acrobatics on the same component set, with Xinhua's photographers documenting its units in stores and laboratories by late 2025.

The EngineAI Lineup

SA01: The Open Door

The SA01 is the range's education and research entry: an open source bipedal platform exposing algorithms and control for universities, laboratories and individual developers, the accessible carrier for gait research, reinforcement learning and embodied intelligence coursework, priced and documented for institutions rather than spectacle, with configurations confirmed at quotation.

PM01: The Athlete

The PM01 is the machine from the videos: 1.38 metres, about 40 kilogrammes, 24 degrees of freedom with a 320 degree waist that lets it turn its torso through motions bipeds normally cannot, moving at 2 metres per second in a choice of mechanical or natural humanoid gaits. Optical motion capture and end to end neural networks let it replicate human movement faithfully, running, front flipping, axe dancing on official demonstrations, and its development story is unusually open: dual computing on Intel N97 x86 and NVIDIA Jetson Orin, cross platform deployment, ROS and ONNX support, MuJoCo sim to sim workflows and Isaac based training pipelines, with hot swappable batteries, modular sensors and standard interfaces serving the testbeds and exhibitions it stars in, all commanded through the Iron Man inspired integrated chest display.

SE01: The Flagship

The SE01 carries the gait into general purpose work: a full size 170 centimetre, roughly 55 kilogramme humanoid with 32 degrees of freedom, walking normally at 2 metres per second on the company's self developed joint modules. Its Engine Sense perception fuses LiDAR assisted 360 degree awareness with depth vision and a multi microphone array, its quick swap 10,000 milliamp hour packs keep shifts continuous, and its aluminium chassis is specified for a ten year design life, the durability language of a machine aimed at industrial and commercial deployment rather than demonstration alone.

Lineup Overview

Figures follow published specifications; configurations are confirmed at quotation.

Which buyers does EngineAI suit?

The ladder sorts cleanly by ambition. Universities and laboratories take the SA01's open economics across educational robotics, graduating to the PM01 for dynamic locomotion, reinforcement learning and sim to real research across research robotics, where its ROS, ONNX, MuJoCo and Isaac support makes it one of the most open dynamic platforms sold. Exhibition programmes, showrooms and events take the PM01's demonstrated repertoire across exhibition and entertainment robotics, the front flipping, axe dancing crowd machine, with athletic programmes noting its class across sports and running robotics. Industrial and commercial buyers take the SE01's endurance, perception and design life across industrial robotics, and developer ecosystems take the whole range's serviceability, swappable power, modular sensing, standard interfaces, with mission software from the robot software catalogue completing deployments.

Technology

The gait engine

EngineAI's walk is a learned behaviour, not a scripted one: end to end neural networks trained against human motion produce long stride, upright, straight legged locomotion with natural heel roll, selectable on the PM01 beside a mechanical gait, and the same optimisation culture extends upward into running, aerial manoeuvres and recovery, dynamics as the product rather than the demo.

Joints from first principles

The self developed actuator stack, integrated modules, in joint wiring, dual encoders per joint, delivers the torque density and position fidelity the acrobatics demand and the durability the SE01's ten year chassis promises, vertical integration converting directly into the price performance that makes an open dynamic humanoid affordable to institutions.

Perception named Engine Sense

The SE01's sensing fuses LiDAR assisted 360 degree coverage with depth vision and multi microphone hearing into whole scene awareness for commercial floors, while the PM01's optical capture heritage serves its motion replication, each machine sensed for its mission, and both feeding the developer stack through standard interfaces.

Openness as strategy

EngineAI publishes its platforms outward: open source foundations on the SA01, open training and deployment code around the PM01, ROS and ONNX compatibility, MuJoCo sim to sim and Isaac training workflows, plus hot swappable batteries and modular sensors that keep laboratory uptime high, a developer ecosystem play from a company that wants its gait running everyone's experiments.

What are EngineAI robots used for?

1. Dynamic locomotion research: gait learning, reinforcement learning and sim to real studies across research robotics.
2. Education: open source bipedal teaching from the SA01 upward across educational robotics.
3. Exhibitions and live events: running, flipping and dance repertoire across exhibition and entertainment robotics.
4. Commercial and retail presence: in store engagement in the deployments documented through late 2025.
5. Industrial and general purpose pilots: SE01 duty on the ten year chassis across industrial robotics.
6. Developer ecosystems: third party application building on the range's open training and deployment stack.

Pricing and Availability

EngineAI robots are available for purchase across Europe and worldwide, from single SA01 education units to PM01 research fleets and SE01 deployments, alongside the wider humanoid catalogue on Robots Europa. EngineAI price and cost vary by model and configuration, so buyers seeking the SE01, PM01 or SA01 for sale should request a current quotation for their requirements, with European delivery, customs clearance and support arranged through Robots Europa. Purchasing enquiries, specification sheets and availability details for those looking to buy EngineAI robots can be found on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is EngineAI?

EngineAI is a Shenzhen humanoid robotics company founded in October 2023, known in China as Zhongqing: maker of the SA01 open source biped, the dynamic PM01 and the full size SE01 flagship, famed for natural, straight legged humanoid gait driven by end to end neural networks on fully self developed joints.

How do EngineAI robots work?

They walk through learned gait policies producing long stride, upright locomotion, actuated by self developed joint modules with in joint wiring and dual encoders, compute on dual Intel x86 and NVIDIA Jetson Orin architectures, perceive through suites up to the SE01's LiDAR assisted 360 degree Engine Sense, and open to developers through ROS, ONNX, MuJoCo and Isaac workflows.

What is the EngineAI PM01?

The PM01 is the range's dynamic open platform: 1.38 metres and about 40 kilogrammes with 24 degrees of freedom including a 320 degree waist, walking at 2 metres per second in mechanical or natural gaits, replicating human motion from optical capture, and demonstrating running, front flips and axe dances, with hot swappable batteries and an unusually open training stack.

What is the EngineAI SE01?

The SE01 is the full size flagship: 170 centimetres and roughly 55 kilogrammes with 32 degrees of freedom, Engine Sense 360 degree perception, quick swap 10,000 milliamp hour batteries, 2 metre per second walking and an aluminium chassis specified for a ten year design life, aimed at general purpose industrial and commercial deployment.

Why is EngineAI's gait famous?

Because it solved the humanoid shuffle: end to end neural network optimisation produces the long stride, straight legged, naturally rolling walk of a human rather than the bent knee caution of classical bipeds, the capability that made EngineAI's demonstration videos among the most watched in robotics and that pays off daily in efficiency and joint life.

What are the benefits of EngineAI robots?

Key benefits include the category's most natural locomotion with the efficiency it brings, acrobatic dynamics proven on official demonstrations, full stack self developed joints holding cost and durability together, exceptional openness across ROS, ONNX, MuJoCo and Isaac, serviceable designs with swappable power and a ladder from classroom to commercial flagship.

Where can I buy EngineAI robots and what do they cost?

EngineAI robots are for sale through Robots Europa, serving the United Kingdom, the European Union and markets worldwide with delivery, customs clearance and support. Because cost varies by model and configuration, buyers should request a tailored quotation. Full purchasing details are available on this page.

Summary

EngineAI is the company that taught humanoids to walk properly and built the business on what followed: strides instead of shuffles, then runs, then front flips, all on joints it designs down to the wiring, and all published outward through one of the most open development stacks in the category. The ladder keeps every buyer honest, SA01 to learn on, PM01 to push dynamics and delight crowds, SE01 to put the gait to general purpose work on a chassis rated for a decade, with heavier machines proving out above. As the natural motion house of humanoid robotics, EngineAI stands where walking stopped looking robotic, and this page as the European starting point for falling into step.

v3, August 9, 2026