NAO6

NAO is the most widely taught humanoid robot ever built. Aldebaran Robotics introduced the first version in 2006 as a small, affordable, fully programmable biped, and universities adopted it in numbers no research humanoid had reached before — it replaced Sony's AIBO as the standard platform of RoboCup's league in 2008, and thousands of units ended up in classrooms, laboratories, autism therapy programmes and care homes. For most engineers under forty, NAO was the first robot they ever wrote code for. The sixth generation keeps the shape and rebuilds the inside. It stands 574 mm and weighs 5.48 kg, with 25 degrees of freedom: two in the head, five in each arm, one in each hand, one at the pelvis and five in each leg. An Intel Atom E3845 at 1.91 GHz with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage runs an embedded Yocto-based GNU/Linux. Perception comes from two 5-megapixel head cameras, four omnidirectional microphones, two front sonars, tactile sensors on the head and hands, foot bumpers, four force sensors in each foot and an inertial unit. Two 40 mm speakers and speech synthesis with recognition cover 22 languages. A 21.6 V, 2.9 Ah lithium-ion pack gives 60 minutes of active use or 90 minutes of normal use and recharges in about 90 minutes. Those numbers explain both the appeal and the ceiling. NAO is light enough to be handed around a classroom and rugged enough to fall over safely, but its processor dates from an earlier era of embedded computing and an hour of runtime rules out any real working shift. It was never meant to be productive — it is a teaching and research instrument, and it is priced on request rather than off a shelf. The robot's recent history is more dramatic than its specification. Aldebaran passed from SoftBank to the United Robotics Group, entered receivership in France in February 2025 and was auctioned in July 2025, when the Shenzhen-listed Maxvision Technology bought the patents, source code and stock for about 900,000 euros. Development and support stayed in France under a new subsidiary, Maxtronics Robotics SAS in Issy-les-Moulineaux, which currently builds and sells NAO but not Pepper; the planned NAO7 has not been confirmed. The datasheet this profile is built on was reissued by Maxtronics in June 2026, which is the clearest evidence that the line is still alive.

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