Kepler Robotics
The Shanghai maker behind Forerunner K2, also called Bumblebee, focuses on industrial work. An August 20, 2026 completion notice records Hangzhou Kelin’s 51% controlling stake.125
- Based in
- Pudong, Shanghai, China1
- Incorporated
- 20232
- Controlling parent
- Hangzhou Kelin Electric Co., Ltd.2
Kepler's humanoid story begins with work: moving goods, tending a production process and helping people in demanding settings. Its Forerunner K2 is marketed as Bumblebee, a name that can make separate articles sound as though they describe different robots. The company offers several configurations, and understanding those differences is a better starting point than imagining one universal machine for every factory or home.158
Visit Kepler Robotics ↗A young company with a changing business behind it
Kepler was incorporated in Shanghai on August 15, 2023 and operates from Pudong. Acquisition documents identify Yang Hua as a founder. Kepler’s CES 2024 announcement separately identifies Debo Hu as a co-founder and vice-president at that time. The Forerunner series appeared at that show, introducing the young company’s humanoid work to an international audience.1234
Kepler combines roller-screw linear actuators with rotary actuators, two mechanisms for driving a robot’s joints. Its business focus is manufacturing, logistics, inspection and other professional settings. The company describes home services as a future direction, giving household readers a reason to follow the work without treating its industrial range as a domestic service.17
During 2025, the company moved its description of K2 from limited-series production to an announcement of mass production and customer shipments in September. Those are useful dated milestones, but they are Kepler's announcements. They do not tell a prospective customer how many robots have completed a particular task reliably over a full working year.56
Following the Forerunner family
Early company-channel material describes a robot 1.78 metres tall and weighing 85 kg. The June 2025 K2 Bumblebee announcement gives 1.75 metres and 75 kg. These figures belong to different source contexts. When comparing a demonstration or quotation, identify the model and configuration before treating two sets of measurements as interchangeable.510
A range of configurations, not one interchangeable robot
Forerunner is Kepler’s series name, introduced at CES 2024. K2 is a later model, also marketed as Bumblebee. Keeping the family name, model and configuration together helps identify which machine an announcement describes.458
Forerunner K2 (Bumblebee)
The current K2 page lists Basic, Bipedal Development and Wheeled Development versions. Basic is the simpler configuration; the development versions provide different equipment and access for building applications. A customer looking for a machine to demonstrate at an event and an integrator trying to automate handling should begin with different requirements, even if both receive a K2 quotation.8
What a household reader should take away
This also explains why a dramatic movement or an industrial demonstration cannot define the whole range. Ask which body, hands, computing package and software were used, then have the supplier identify the same configuration in the proposal. Training and on-site work matter too: the current configuration table makes those optional for the development versions.8
Kepler is worth following for its attempt to turn humanoid movement into a repeatable working process. Its present offering is aimed at professional deployments and development. If your interest is a future home helper, keep the job small and concrete: what would it move, between which places, and who would help when it fails? That gives you a way to judge later household offers without mistaking an industrial platform for a finished domestic service.18
Read more on Robots in the House
Sources and notes
- Kepler official company page
Kepler’s own description places it in Pudong, Shanghai, and identifies professional applications. Home services are a future direction. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Hangzhou Kelin completion notice 2026-018
Original issuer completion notice 2026-018, dated August 20, 2026, hosted on a Sina mirror. It records incorporation on August 15, 2023 and Hangzhou Kelin’s 51% control. Shanghai stock code 688611 belongs to the parent. The packet did not locate the exchange-hosted counterpart. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Hangzhou Kelin acquisition proposal 2026-013
Hangzhou Kelin’s May 2026 proposal identifies Shanghai Kepler Robot Co., Ltd. (上海开普勒机器人有限公司). Printed page 10 gives audited FY2025 and Q1 2026 target results in CNY ten-thousands; values here are full yuan. The summary does not establish a further consolidation perimeter or common-shareholder profit basis. Page 11 describes orders, not recognized revenue. The proposed transfer cap is payment to selling shareholders. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler CES 2024 release
Company-issued CES 2024 release identifies the Forerunner family and Debo Hu as co-founder and vice-president at that time. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler ICRA 2025 release
Company-issued June 3, 2025 release calls K2 “Bumblebee”, gives that model’s dimensions and describes limited-series production. Hu’s CEO title is historical. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler mass-production release
Company-issued September 26, 2025 announcement of production and customer shipments. No independent unit count or reliability audit is established. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler IROS developer release
Company description of its hybrid linear and rotary actuator architecture and developer focus. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler K2 configuration page
The K2 table distinguishes Basic, Bipedal Development and Wheeled Development. On-site support and training are optional for development versions. Its unresolved Basic GPU discrepancy is not used as a specification here. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler A++ financing report
36kr’s April 9, 2026 report describes the A++ round at a hundred-million-yuan scale. This is reported financing, without an exact amount or lifetime total. Includes reported information. Source checked 2026-10-26.
- Kepler channel
The maker-linked channel’s older generic 178 cm and 85 kg description is distinct from the later K2 source. The Qilin video is a separate model lead, with no specifications transferred here. Source checked 2026-10-26.
We use official disclosures and other identified sources. Company claims are attributed; these profiles do not represent hands-on product testing. Our editorial and AI-use policy.
