Unitree and Boweitong unveil humanoid robot that operates 6kV substation switchgear

In October 2026, the fifth Global Digital Trade Expo opened in Hangzhou. At the artificial intelligence exhibition area, Boweitong and Unitree jointly unveiled a full-size humanoid robot designed for substations, marking its first public appearance. The robot can directly operate 6kV switchgear in distribution rooms and is the two companies' second collaboration after a firefighting robot dog.

Substation switching operations are considered high-risk in the power industry, and traditional manual operations carry safety hazards. Based on Boweitong's embodied intelligence operation platform, the robot can parse work-ticket instructions into executable steps, including which cabinet to approach, what operations to perform, and in what order. For equipment such as switchgear, panels, knobs, buttons and pressure plates, the robot can identify status indicators and control the force and sequence of operations.

Operators can monitor a real-time 3D view of the substation, robot location and path, on-site video, task progress and analysis results through a backend console. The platform also provides a one-click stop and manual takeover option for remote intervention when necessary. In addition, the system is built on an embodied intelligence OS supporting cloud-edge-device layered control and unified scheduling of heterogeneous robot bodies, allowing verified capabilities to be reused across more tasks, sites and robot models.