Do You Want Your Very Own Humanoid Robot? Here’s One For Just $16K.

The Unitree G1 isn’t exactly Rosie from “The Jetsons,” but it is a robot and it does look vaguely human. If that’s enough of a reason to run out and buy one, you’ll soon have a chance for the (relatively) low price of about $16,000.

What does it do?

First things first, it’s important to set your expectations sufficiently low. Since the most powerful robots aren’t yet available for private ownership and will likely cost many times more than the Unitree G1 when they are, this model probably isn’t going to revolutionize anyone’s life.

Also, the company behind it is based in China and has a reputation for building bargain-basement robots. Unitree also has a robot dog that sells for about one-tenth of the G1’s estimated market price. And early ads for the so-called “humanoid agent AI avatar” are barely coherent when translated for English-speaking audiences.

Nevertheless, the specs currently available are fairly impressive given its price point. Promotional material shows it running, pushing itself up from the ground, and even absorbing a few punches and kicks without losing its balance.

Size matters

As for whether it can really perform useful tasks around the house, that seems to be an as-yet unanswered question. Even Unitree’s own video shows the robot “opening” a soda bottle by smashing the glass and “cracking” a walnut by demolishing it with a powerful blow that sends bits of the nut flying everywhere.

Then there’s the issue of its size and strength, per the company’s own spec sheet:

• It stands just over four feet tall
• It weighs between 77 and 104 pounds
• It can only lift about 4.4 pounds
• Its battery lasts around two hours

There’s supposedly a way to program the G1 to perform various tasks, but Unitree isn’t providing many details.

Chris Agee May 22nd, 2024

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