Robots at the University: The Hardware the Future of Robotics Learns On

A Robot That Is a Tool, Not an Exhibit

A robot at a university is equipment that doctoral students, master's students and machine learning engineers work on. It has to be open to programming, well documented and repairable; the effect on video is secondary.

And that is exactly what sets a university apart from the other application areas. Here you buy a platform, not a ready-made solution. What counts is the SDK, access to raw sensor data and, often, the availability of spare parts and Polish service.

The Starting Point in Poland

Poland has a strong technical base: the technical universities in Warsaw, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Gliwice and Rzeszów, or AGH in Kraków, run robotics and mechatronics labs. Employers who complain about a shortage of hands need engineers who understand automation; we wrote about this in “Humanoid Robots and the Polish Labor Market”. Universities are therefore among the first buyers of new platforms, before they reach factories.

What specifically stands in the labs can be seen on the websites of universities and faculties. Here is an overview (it is not exhaustive):

• AGH Kraków introduced a Unitree G1 EDU humanoid to the university community, and it was given the name Barbara (AGH).
• Rzeszów University of Technology has a Unitree G1 humanoid in its Laboratory of Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Humanoid Robots (Rzeszów University of Technology).
• Wrocław University of Science and Technology uses a UR3 cobot and FANUC LR Mate and ABB IRB 120 industrial robots in its robotics lab (lab page).
• Poznań University of Technology has, among others, three KUKA KR200 robots, three ABB IRB 120, a UR3 cobot, an ANYmal B quadruped and a Unitree A1 (CREEF).
• Gdańsk University of Technology has, in its mechatronics and haptics lab, among others a Hanwha HCR-3A arm, a Nachi MZ04D, an ABB IRB 360, a Unitree Go1 quadruped and the Polish Husarion ROSbot 2 Pro platform (Gdańsk University of Technology).
• Silesian University of Technology works with social robots, including NAO and Furhat, and with a Unitree quadruped (Silesian University of Technology).

Unit counts are often not given, and we leave them alone.

What Robots in the Lab Can Really Do Today

A humanoid for whole-body motion research. The Unitree G1 is 132 cm tall, weighs about 35 kg and has 23 degrees of freedom in the basic version (up to 43 in the EDU variant). The base price from the manufacturer is USD 13,500, about PLN 52,300 (≈ EUR 11,980 at NBP rate 4.3641 of 21 October 2026) (Unitree). It comes with an open SDK, which lets students write their own gait and learning algorithms. The limitation is a short battery runtime of about two hours, so longer experiments need a spare battery. We described a comparison of the whole series in “Unitree H1, G1, R1 and H2”.

A quadruped for locomotion and reinforcement learning. The Unitree Go2 is cheap (from USD 1,600 for the Air from the manufacturer, Unitree; EDU versions with the full SDK are priced on request, from about PLN 36,000 (≈ EUR 8,250) to 115,000 in Polish shops according to drony.net, drony.net) and available off the shelf in Poland. For industrial tasks there are the more expensive Unitree B2 and ANYmal models, but that is a different shelf.

A cobot for research on control and safe collaboration. The UR5e (5 kg payload, 850 mm reach; Universal Robots) is a standard in industrial education and is available in Poland through Elmark Automatyka. The Franka Research 3 has seven axes and torque sensors in every joint (Franka Robotics), which makes it a favorite for manipulation research; it costs EUR 25,250 at the distributor Vention (Vention). The Kinova Gen3 is a lightweight 7-DOF arm with a 4 kg payload in the mid-range of motion (2 kg across the full range) and a 902 mm reach (Kinova). Availability in Poland is unconfirmed.

A mobile manipulation platform. The PAL Robotics TIAGo is a wheeled base with one or two 7-DOF arms and a ROS architecture, sold per project with no public price list; according to the manufacturer it is used in research projects in 27 countries (PAL Robotics).

Imitation learning. The SO-101 is an open-source pair of arms (the follower alone about USD 122, a leader plus follower pair about USD 230 in parts; GitHub), and the Trossen AI Stationary is a ready-made evolution of the ALOHA line for USD 23,995 (Trossen Robotics). Both are at the core of research on VLA models, which we discuss in “VLA Models: How AI Controls Humanoid Robots in 2026”.

What They Cannot Do

A research robot is not a finished product. A humanoid will not do many hours of work on its own, batteries last only a short time, and warranty and service in Poland depend on the distributor. Robots bought "for display" often end up in a corner if nobody writes software for them.

With dexterous hands and full autonomy you still have to count on a human in the loop. Locomotion is well solved, but complex manipulation in an unstructured environment is still an open research problem.

Examples from Poland and the World

The best Polish example is Poznań, where urban and academic robotics intertwine. Poznań University of Technology has in its facilities both classic KUKA and ABB robots and quadrupeds. MAB Robotics, the maker of the Honey Badger (MAB Robotics), which we describe on the page “Robots in Security and Inspection: Quadrupeds on Patrol” in the context of inspection, comes out of its community. Gdańsk University of Technology shows a mix of old and new: industrial arms next to the Polish Husarion platform.

Platforms such as Franka, Kinova, TIAGo and Unitree have open interfaces or SDKs; PAL Robotics states that the TIAGo is used in research projects in 27 countries.

How to Buy

A university usually buys a robot through public procurement or within a grant. For Unitree in Poland, sellers include x-kom, Delta Robots, Botland and MegaDron. Universal Robots sells through Elmark Automatyka and CP Trade. Franka, Kinova and PAL sell mainly through direct quotes. You will meet the Polish Husarion ROSbot design in Gdańsk; more about domestic companies in “Polish Robotics Companies” and at the manufacturer Husarion.

Practical advice: in an offer, check three things that do not show in the brochure. The first is the SDK version and whether you get raw access to joint control. The second is the delivery time of spare parts. The third is the license terms and the availability of software updates. We explain how to read datasheets in “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”.

Costs and Funding

A realistic budget depends on the class. Open educational platforms cost hundreds of dollars. The Unitree G1 humanoid is USD 13,500 in the base version, and EDU versions cost up to about PLN 246,000 (≈ EUR 56,370) in Polish shops, for example the G1 Edu Ultimate E at x-kom. A research cobot costs several tens of thousands of euros.

Funding usually comes from research grants and projects. We describe programs such as NCBR and European funds in the funding section; the robotization tax relief (“Poland's Robotization Tax Relief”) applies to companies (podatki.gov.pl), so at a university it works only when the equipment is bought by a special-purpose company or an industrial partner. Check each program individually.

Verdict

A university does not buy a robot, it buys capabilities: an open SDK, documentation and a community. To start, an inexpensive quadruped and an SO-101 arm are enough; for serious manipulation research you will need an arm in the Franka or UR class; and a humanoid becomes the star of the lab if somebody writes software for it. Choose platforms with an active community and Polish support, and before you place an order, count the cost of the team's time, because it most often exceeds the price of the robot. If you want to see where graduates end up, look at factories and at the category “Humanoid robots”.