[Interesting Engineering carried this story about a new development in teleoperation, the use of a humanoid robot to cook food from over a thousand miles away. The story is followed by additional details from coverage by Tech In Asia. The Interesting Engineering story includes a 1:54 minute video about the robot but neither source features or links to the full version of the recent demonstration video directly; instead, you can see parts of the demonstration in videos on YouTube from PEARL (also known as Cultural Lingnan) and South Korea’s ETNews (Electronic Times News), and there are many more related videos on the Dotot Robotics YouTube channel. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: South China Morning Post]

Chinese humanoid robot cooks steak by remote control from 1,118 miles away

Dobot Robotics’ Atom has 28 degrees of freedom, is equipped with five-fingered hands and can be controlled via VR with an accuracy of 0.05 millimeters.

By Christopher McFadden
July 5, 2025

Chinese robot maker Dobot Robotics has showcased its humanoid ‘Atom’ robot preparing a delicious steak. Although impressive enough, the real feat was the fact that the robot was remotely operated from 1,118 miles (1,800 km) away using virtual reality (VR).

The company published footage of the event on Friday (4th July) on the firm’s WeChat account. In the video, an engineer based in Guangdong is seen wearing a VR headset that captures his hand gestures.

According to the four-minute footage, the robot, located several miles away in the eastern province of Shandong, was able to flawlessly mirror the engineer’s gestures in real time. The robot’s movements were precise enough to perform delicate tasks, such as patting the steak with a paper towel and pouring cooking oil into a pan.

Atom was also able to flip the steak with ease and even sprinkle salt with its fingers, mimicking human dexterity. According to Dobot, Atom has an accuracy of 0.05 millimeters. However, developers are currently only capable of controlling the upper body of the robot.

Teleoperation over long distances

The company released the Atom model in March of this year at the cost of around $27,500 (199,000 yuan) a piece. Dobot celebrated the release of Atom with a similar culinary-themed video showing the robot preparing a nutritious breakfast.

The humanoid has 28 degrees of freedom and is equipped with five-fingered hands that enable it to perform tasks such as preparing breakfast (placing toast, lettuce, and fruit) and pouring milk. It is also reportedly capable of walking with a human-like gait. At present, only the upper body is controllable via VR; while walking remains autonomous or limited.

The latest demonstration is crucial for the company to exhibit that teleoperation with high precision is possible over long distances. To this end, it serves as proof of concept for using humanoid robots in environments that are dangerous (e.g., nuclear plants) and inaccessible (e.g., outer space).

It also serves to show that teleoperation is possible for tasks that require precision (e.g., surgery, housework). NASA has similar tech with its Valkyrie humanoid, but the space agency is yet to address network challenges for long-range control the way Dobot just did.

Beyond just cooking steak

Founded in 2015, Dobot specializes in collaborative robot (cobot) arms, SCARA arms, desktop robot arms, and educational robot arms. Following the release of the video, Dobot’s stock price reportedly soared over 3%. The company has also already begun global shipments, with Japan receiving the first batch.

Dobot is one among 11 Chinese firms which entered mass production of humanoid robots in 2024, taking an important step toward VR-controlled labor over vast distances.

The newest development could not only lead to the possibility of replacing human presence in high-risk environments; but could also open doors to integrating humanoid robots as part of everyday life through telepresence and AI augmentation.

Looking at the bigger picture, Atom is a milestone for teleoperated robotics and potentially a foreshadowing of future work, where humans could control robots across cities, continents, or even in orbit.

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[From Tech In Asia]

Chinese humanoid robot cooks steak via VR from 1,800 km away

July 5, 2025

[snip]

Food for thought

1. Humanoid robotics achieving new dexterity milestones

Dobot Atom’s ability to perform delicate culinary tasks represents a significant advancement in robotic dexterity, building on decades of development.

The robot’s reported precision of ±0.05mm and 28 degrees of freedom enable complex manipulations like sprinkling salt and flipping meat, demonstrating capabilities that early humanoid robots could not achieve [1].

This level of dexterity has been a persistent challenge in robotics since the first digitally controlled humanoid, WABOT-1, was developed in 1970 [2].

The five-finger hands on the Atom represent a technical breakthrough that allows for human-like manipulation of objects, addressing limitations that previous generations of robots faced when attempting to work in environments designed for humans [3].

The evolution from mechanical automata like da Vinci’s 15th-century knight to modern systems capable of precise culinary tasks illustrates how robotics has progressed from conceptual demonstrations to practical applications requiring fine motor control.

2. Teleoperation emerging as bridge technology for robot deployment

The remote control of Dobot Atom across 1,800km demonstrates how teleoperation is enabling robotic capabilities before full autonomy is achieved.

This approach parallels Toyota’s T-HR3 robot, which similarly explored teleoperation for human-like tasks, showing a pattern of companies using remote control as a stepping stone toward autonomous systems [4].

The VR-based control system used by Dobot engineers mirrors approaches being developed in healthcare, where the telepresence robot market is growing to address physician shortages in remote areas, projected to contribute to the $63.8 billion medical robotics market by 2032 [5].

This technique allows human operators to lend their judgment and adaptability to robots while the technology for full autonomy continues to develop, creating immediate practical applications for humanoid systems.

The demonstrated cooking capabilities align with Dobot’s earlier efforts with their Magician robot, which was shown preparing breakfast at industry exhibitions in 2019, indicating a consistent development path toward increasingly complex manipulation tasks [6].