{"ID":2881575,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.11884","arxiv_id":"2508.11884","title":"From Screen to Stage: Kid Cosmo, A Life-Like, Torque-Controlled Humanoid for Entertainment Robotics","abstract":"Humanoid robots represent the cutting edge of robotics research, yet their potential in entertainment remains largely unexplored. Entertainment as a field prioritizes visuals and form, a principle that contrasts with the purely functional designs of most contemporary humanoid robots. Designing entertainment humanoid robots capable of fluid movement presents a number of unique challenges. In this paper, we present Kid Cosmo, a research platform designed for robust locomotion and life-like motion generation while imitating the look and mannerisms of its namesake character from Netflix's movie The Electric State. Kid Cosmo is a child-sized humanoid robot, standing 1.45 m tall and weighing 25 kg. It contains 28 degrees of freedom and primarily uses proprioceptive actuators, enabling torque-control walking and lifelike motion generation. Following worldwide showcases as part of the movie's press tour, we present the system architecture, challenges of a functional entertainment robot and unique solutions, and our initial findings on stability during simultaneous upper and lower body movement. We demonstrate the viability of performance-oriented humanoid robots that prioritize both character embodiment and technical functionality.","short_abstract":"Humanoid robots represent the cutting edge of robotics research, yet their potential in entertainment remains largely unexplored. Entertainment as a field prioritizes visuals and form, a principle that contrasts with the purely functional designs of most contemporary humanoid robots. Designing entertainment humanoid ro...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.11884","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.11884v1","authors":"[\"Havel Liu\",\"Mingzhang Zhu\",\"Arturo Moises Flores Alvarez\",\"Yuan Hung Lo\",\"Conrad Ku\",\"Federico Parres\",\"Justin Quan\",\"Colin Togashi\",\"Aditya Navghare\",\"Quanyou Wang\",\"Dennis W. Hong\"]","published":"2025-08-16T03:14:15Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}