Clone Robotics/Humanoid
Clone Alpha
An android built like a body — muscle, bone, and a lot of unproven promise.
- Built from synthetic muscle and an artificial skeleton
- 164 degrees of freedom in the torso alone
- Limited to a 279-unit "Alpha Edition"
Realism index
46/100
Our editorial estimate of how close this machine is to a lifelike human companion — six weighted dimensions, built from public evidence. How we score · The whole field, ranked
See it move
Photos flatter; motion is where realism is won or lost.
Clone Alpha is the strangest, most fascinating entry in this directory — and the one to be most careful about. Where every other machine here is built like a robot, Clone Alpha is built like a body: a polymer skeleton with 206 bone analogues, wrapped in over a thousand water-actuated synthetic muscles, with 164 degrees of freedom in the torso alone. When its Protoclone prototype flexed on camera, it looked less like a machine switching on than like something waking up.
It belongs on a companion site for one reason — it is the most serious attempt anywhere to make a robot's body feel biologically real — but it's important to be clear about what it is and isn't. Clone markets Alpha as a general-purpose household android for chores, not as a companion, and it has no expressive face. More importantly, no complete unit has ever been shown walking or doing a real task. The famous "under $20,000" figure is a future manufacturing-cost ambition, not a price; the actual price, runtime, and ship date are all undisclosed, and the timeline has already slipped toward 2028.
For now there is no slot to reserve. As of October 30, 2026 the pre-order page still says "Pre-orders available in 2025", and its Reserve button leads back to the same page, with no price or checkout. If ordering does open for the 279-unit "Alpha Edition", know that you'd be funding the most radical bet in robotics, not buying a finished machine.
Our verdict
The case for
- A genuinely novel biomimetic approach — muscle and bone, not rigid joints
- Potential for lifelike, compliant, quiet motion
- An aggressive long-term manufacturing-cost ambition
The case against
- No complete unit has been shown working — the claims are aspirational
- Price, runtime and ship date undisclosed; timeline slipped to ~2028
- Water-driven muscles raise leak and maintenance questions
What it can do
- Walking and household chores — cooking, cleaning, tool use (all claimed)
- Human-level dexterous hands
- Learns skills from plain-English instructions and demonstrations
The paper trail
Dated milestones — announcements, prices, promised ship windows — as they were made. We add to this record; we don't rewrite it.
The pre-order page still reads 'Pre-orders available in 2025'. Its Reserve button links back to the same page, with no price, checkout or delivery date.
Promised preorder window lapses
As of July 2026 the official page still reads 'Pre-orders available in 2025' — no price, no open ordering, no reported deliveries.
Protoclone V1 video goes viral
The faceless prototype (1,000+ Myofibers) twitched to life suspended from a ceiling; preorders were again promised for later in 2025.
Clone Alpha announced: 279 units, preorders 'in 2025'
A limited run of 279 home androids, price undisclosed.
Show 1 earlier milestones ↓Hide earlier milestones ↑
Synthetic-muscle torso unveiled
Video of a bimanual torso with water-powered Myofiber artificial muscles — the tech base promised for Clone Alpha.
Quick answers
Composed from the directory record above — so they can't drift from the data.
- What is Clone Alpha?
- Clone Alpha is a humanoid-class machine (general-purpose) from Clone Robotics (Poland). A synthetic-muscle, synthetic-skeleton android — the most lifelike *body* in the field, attached to the least proven promises.
- How much does Clone Alpha cost?
- Clone Robotics hasn't disclosed pricing — Undisclosed; the cited 'under $20k' is a future cost target, not a price.
- Can you buy Clone Alpha right now?
- No — Clone Alpha has been announced but isn't orderable yet. The maker's current label is "Pre-orders not open · ~2028".
- How lifelike is Clone Alpha?
- We rate Clone Alpha 46/100 on the gfs.ai Realism Index — an editorial score across six weighted dimensions, built only from public evidence. It scores strongest on body & skin (92/100) and weakest on face (15/100).
- Who makes Clone Alpha?
- Clone Alpha is built by Clone Robotics — founded 2021, headquartered in Wrocław, Poland (+ Mountain View, CA). The company's focus: musculoskeletal "synthetic human" androids; myofiber artificial muscle.
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