Rice Robotics Debuts Education Humanoid, Joins HK’s AI Hub

HONG KONG -- Rice Robotics has introduced TOMO, a wheeled humanoid robot designed to help students learn programming, interact with educational materials and perform simple tasks in schools.

The robot features an expressive face, a wheeled humanoid with a torso touchscreen and two-fingered hands for handling objects. Its intended applications include interactive reading, STEM lessons and supervised robotics activities.

Hong Kong-based Rice Robotics unveiled TOMO on Oct. 15, Axonex AI Group said. Axonex AI Group holds an indirect majority stake in the joint venture. The manufacturer also lists incident alerts among the robot's potential school applications, although it provides no detail on incident detection methods or human monitoring requirements.

Unlike legged humanoids developed for industrial work, TOMO moves on wheels and uses a simplified gripping system. The configuration suits educational environments where basic interaction and object handling take priority over walking on rough surfaces.

Its name comes from tomodachi, the Japanese word for friend. Rice Robotics describes TOMO as a learning companion that can support students at different stages of their education.

The company hasn't provided information about cost, size, battery life, autonomy or availability. It also hasn't revealed which schools use TOMO or shared classroom-evaluation results.

Additionally, Rice Robotics HK joined the Embodied AI International Applications Hub, created by the Hong Kong Industrial Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Centre (FLAIR) under the Hong Kong Productivity Council. The hub launched on Oct. 15 to provide facilities for training, testing and validating humanoid robots in real-world environments.

Under an agreement with FLAIR, Rice Robotics HK will supply its robotic platform for technology development and demonstrations. FLAIR will contribute expertise in scenario-based training, AI model development, testing, and validation.

The initial collaboration will explore applications in education and manufacturing. The partners aim to collect practical operating data and refine robotic systems before wider adoption.

The announcement does not indicate if TOMO will be part of the hub’s test program, and the companies have not stated a schedule for commercial deployments or named customers.