Punyo

What it's for

Punyo, a robot from Toyota Research Institute in Los Altos, does not grab objects with its fingers: it wraps its arms around them, presses them against its torso and carries them. Each arm, from shoulder to wrist, is covered with 13 independently adjustable air cushions, and the hands have inflatable cushions with a dot pattern, watched by a camera. That soft "skin" is the heart of the project.

Carrying large, heavy, awkward objects. This is a task where classic industrial grippers, like those in the robots covered in “Cobot or Industrial Robot”, do poorly. Punyo spreads the pressure across the whole surface of its arms. A camera looking at the dot pattern in the hands shows how a cushion deforms, so the robot "feels" contact.

Help in care and at home. The team, led by engineer Alex Alspach, names elder care and home assistance as the goal: carrying baskets and shopping bags, moving furniture. This is a future application, not an existing service; the category of such robots is developing in home robots and homes.

Research into safe contact. Soft arms reduce the risk of harming a person or an object. It is an interesting lead for anyone wondering how to balance a robot's strength with safety, a topic covered in “Robot Safety Standards”.

For lab teams it also matters that Punyo is an upper-body-only platform: no legs, no gait. That lets researchers focus on manipulation rather than on keeping balance.

Limitations. There is no data on height, weight, payload or runtime. Toyota has given no price, date or rollout plan. In Poland you will not see the robot anywhere except in video material. We describe tactile sensors for robot hands in the component catalog, for example Xela Robotics.

Who it's for

Best suited to: Engineers, researchers and editorial teams who want to understand soft whole-body manipulation. Service-robotics firms looking for inspiration when designing grippers that will not hurt a person. Lecturers who want to show students an alternative to rigid arms.

A poor fit: A buyer: Punyo is not for sale, and has no price or date. Not for a family looking for help at home either; it is still a prototype. Not for industry, which counts on repeatability and service: there is no Polish representative and no certification. If you are looking for something to order, see the overview “How Much Does a Humanoid Robot Cost in 2026”.

Deployments

The robot is a research prototype with no commercialization date.

Robots for care and the home in Poland are limited today to curiosities and demonstrations; quadruped and service robots appear more often in commercial sectors, for example in “Service Robots in Restaurants and Hotels”. You can read about general trends in the humanoid market in “Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts”.

Punyo is the same robot described as a Toyota prototype with tactile sensors on the arms and torso; extra historical context.

Sanctuary AI Phoenix is a humanoid on wheels with sensitive hydraulic hands and a 25 kg payload. It emphasizes hand dexterity, not arm softness; at pilot stage.

Reachy 2 is a mobile research torso with 7-DOF arms, ROS 2 and LeRobot, USD 70,000. The only platform on this list that can be bought and has a public price.

ergoCub is the successor to iCub: 150 cm, 55.7 kg, 10 kg payload, research into work ergonomics. An interesting alternative when the topic is robot-human collaboration on heavy tasks.

Punyo is a project of Toyota Research Institute, Toyota's American research center in Los Altos, California. The launch date is not recorded as an exact day; material on TRI's official website describes a "bubble" humanoid that grasps with the whole body. The team is led by Alex Alspach.

This is the next stage of Toyota's approach to humanoids. Earlier it showed the teleoperated Toyota T-HR3 (2017), and in 2024 Toyota showed Punyo; we also describe the same project in the entry Punyo. No further events, such as funding or a sales plan, are documented.