A comprehensive review on humanoid robots: perspectives from academia and industry

Abstract

Humanoid robotics represents a rapidly evolving research domain that integrates artificial intelligence and robotics. Despite significant advances, existing reviews have predominantly focused on narrow technical aspects and lack comprehensive analysis from academic and industrial perspectives. This paper presents a systematic dual-perspective survey, in which academic literature, commercial products, and industry reports are extensively analyzed. A comprehensive taxonomic framework and systematic review of key enabling technologies are established, including ontological structures, perception systems, locomotion control, intelligent decision-making algorithms, foundation model integration, and human-robot interaction (HRI) technologies. From academic and industrial perspectives, research progress across diverse applications is examined, and a detailed comparative analysis of commercial products from leading companies, including Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and UBTECH, is performed. Six major challenge categories are identified: hardware design limitations, control system complexities, perception constraints, HRI difficulties, application-specific requirements, and ethical considerations. In addition, the transformative impact and integration challenges of large language models are particularly discussed. Seven promising research directions are outlined, and a systematic academic-industrial gap analysis is conducted. Consequently, significant disparities and technology transfer bottlenecks are identified, and successful collaboration models are examined. This comprehensive survey provides the first systematic examination combining academic research insights with industrial development analysis. It thus offers valuable guidance for researchers, engineers, and policymakers working toward more capable, affordable, and socially integrated humanoid robots.

Keywords

Humanoid robots / Dual-perspective analysis / Industrial applications / Technical challenges / Future directions

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The Authors. Published by Zhejiang University Press Co., Ltd.