UBTECH is following up its Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper Robot from last year with the Alpha Mini companion robot and a series of JIMU Robot building kits for kids. The news comes alongside the debut of the company’s Walker (humanoid) and Cruzr (service robot) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

UBTECH’s New Alpha Mini Robot.

Alpha Mini is an affectionate companion robot ready to befriend, entertain, teach, and communicate with kids in a wide variety of scenarios. The robot is portable and stands just under 10 inches tall. Alpha Mini features various interactions and expressions, including voice interaction, 4G LTE connectivity, face recognition, illustrated book recognition, and object recognition. Fourteen servos power a variety of flexible movements, such as dancing, kung fu, and getting up after a fall, while LCD eyes can display crying, happiness, and other emotions and expressions. Alpha Mini is a CES Innovation Award honoree.

JIMU Robot is a line of robot building kits for kids ages 8 and up, including the Mythical Series: UnicornBot Kit and BuilderBot Series: Overdrive Kit. Kids can assemble their robot from scratch, and then control and code its motions using the free JIMU app and Blockly coding platform. JIMU robots make STEM learning fun and easy through creative play that interweaves the central concepts of robotics and programming. JIMU robots are available worldwide, including retailers such as Amazon.com, Apple Stores, Target, Walmart, and more.

For a glimpse at what the future may hold for UBTECH, the Walker humanoid prototype has been updated with arms and hands with the ability to grasp and manipulate objects. It’s the most advanced robot that UBTECH has built to date.

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book, a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.

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