Hot-swappable battery

It works like the spare battery on a power drill. You do not wait for the drill to charge; you clip in a fresh pack and carry on, while the empty one charges on the bench.

Humanoid robots usually run about two hours per charge. A charge cycle can take longer than that, so a robot without swappable packs spends more of the day plugged in than working.

UBTECH says its factory humanoid changes its own pack in roughly three minutes without a human helping. If that holds up in real plants, it turns a two-hour machine into one that can cover a full shift.