Chaoyi Li of Booster Robotics presents at Humanoids Summit on building affordable humanoid platforms and a developer ecosystem to expand practical uses for robots.
Li wants humanoid robots to become simple, dependable, and useful, much like personal computers. He traces how computers evolved from research tools to devices for work, home creativity, and communication, arguing that humanoids should support many applications rather than serve one fixed setting.
Li says the past decade of humanoid development emphasized movement, including walking, dance, and martial arts. He sees the next decade focusing more on perception, reasoning, and action, and argues that one company cannot create every capability. A shared platform, accessible tools, and an ecosystem of developers are needed.
Booster's K1 is an introductory humanoid platform priced from $6,000. Li describes it as a compact, durable robot for education, research, and development, with testing that includes 30 hours of continuous use. Its small size also makes it easier to transport and iterate with.
Examples shown include autonomous soccer, dance, and a robot tutoring children in languages. More than 50 universities use Booster robots in RoboCup, where students work on perception, navigation, and movement. Li expects developers to create a wider range of active robot agents as the platform becomes more accessible.
Li says coding is currently the main skill needed to program the robots, while natural language interaction could make development more accessible over time. Booster currently uses Ubuntu and supports both ROS and direct DDS connections; its tools aim to let developers work from Windows or macOS. For manipulation tasks, Booster's T series supports work such as teleoperated screwdriving, and the company is exploring screens and partner-built humanlike heads for interaction.
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