TALOS
Torque-controlled full-size research humanoid from Barcelona's PAL Robotics, a European academic reference platform since 2017.
Overview
TALOS was introduced by Barcelona-based PAL Robotics in 2017 as a high-performance, fully torque-controlled biped for advanced research, with torque sensors in every actuated joint and EtherCAT communications. The 1.75 m, 95 kg robot has 32 degrees of freedom and can lift 6 kg with each arm fully extended, and it serves as a reference platform in European labs and Horizon-funded agile-manufacturing projects. PAL released an upgraded version in 2024 with ROS 2 support, higher payloads and force-controlled manipulation, and the robot remains available on request (reported pricing around €1M) via pal-robotics.com.
Use cases
Capability evidence
- Torque-controlled walkingLaunched as a fully torque-controlled industrial research humanoid walking at 3 km/h while carrying 6 kg in each extended arm. IEEE Spectrum ↗ · 2017-03
- Blind stair climbingClimbed 15 cm stairs without prior knowledge of the environment using LiDAR-based contact planning and MPC, adapting when the stairs were moved. PAL Robotics blog ↗ · 2023-12
- Whole-body control benchmarkUsed to benchmark three whole-body controllers on flat terrain, uneven terrain and stair-climbing locomotion in peer-reviewed research. Frontiers in Robotics & AI ↗ · 2022-03
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