Pudu Robotics is building D9 humanoid hardware into service-robot manipulation

Pudu Robotics launched PUDU D9 on December 19, 2024 after showing the PUDU D7 and PUDU DH11, moving a service-robot company into full-sized bipedal humanoid hardware. The launch should be read against Pudu's existing robot business: Shenzhen-based Pudu was founded in 2016 by Felix Zhang and built its scale in delivery, cleaning, logistics, and facility service robots before presenting D9.

Pudu reported business presence in about 600 cities across more than 60 countries and regions by early 2023, with cumulative shipments above 56,000 units and overseas sales rising from 8% of total sales in 2019 to more than 80%. Shipments exceeded 20,000 units in 2022, and Skylark ordered 3,000 BellaBot delivery robots in one order. That service-robot base gives D9 a different starting point from a standalone humanoid prototype.

The pre-D9 portfolio included PuduBot, BellaBot, KettyBot, HolaBot, SwiftBot, and FlashBot delivery robots, plus cleaning and disinfection products such as PUDU CC1, PUDU SH1, and Puductor 2. Pudu also says it independently researches and produces motors, LiDARs, cameras, computing platforms, and motion controllers, which gives the humanoid program a component and service-robot base.

D9 stands 170 centimeters tall, weighs 65 kilograms, and carries 42 degrees of freedom. The product record lists maximum joint torque of 352 newton-meters, a 20-kilogram maximum payload in a test environment, and a maximum walking speed of 2 meters per second. The robot uses the PUDU DH11 dexterous hand, with 12 tactile sensing regions, 1,018 tactile sensor pixels, and 30 newtons of maximum palm-finger grip.

The competitive field includes UBTECH, Unitree, Fourier, AgiBot, Tesla Optimus, Figure, Apptronik, and service-robot companies trying to add manipulation to deployed product lines. Pudu's distinction is installed service-robot distribution and internal component development, not D9 customer proof. A humanoid launched by a company with tens of thousands of service robots has channels and support habits that many humanoid startups still need to build.

Pudu notes that some promotional features may not be available to customers and shipped versions may differ from promotional content. Public material does not disclose D9 customer deployments, paid orders, autonomy split, uptime, task performance, or unit economics. The strategic question is whether Pudu can use its service-robot base to move humanoid manipulation into real facility tasks. If D9 becomes an extension of Pudu's deployed service network, the company gains a route from delivery and cleaning robots into human-scale manipulation.

Have a robotics update Korthos should review? Send news, deployments, product releases, funding rounds, research, or media to tips@korthos.xyz or reach out on X at @agkorthos.