China’s Unitree Robotics is a relative newcomer to the general-purpose humanoid robot space, but its $16,000 G1 model is already proving to be a pretty good performer—so much so that the company has now announced a version ready for mass production.
Until December of last year, robotics development at Unitree was largely focused on producing four-legged robo-beasts like the Go2 and B2. And when the first bipedal humanoid made its video debut, it faced stiff competition from companies like Tesla, Figure, Boston Dynamics, and Sanctuary AI.
But progress has been impressive, and the initial $90,000 effort has been joined by a much cheaper and more capable model, the G1. This model has a visor-like face instead of an air vent, and three-digit arms where there were once stubby hands. It also looks more like something heading into production than a development platform, and now it looks set to make that leap.
Unitree G1 mass production version, leap into the future!
Unitree says that in the few short months since its May announcement, engineers have been fine-tuning the general-purpose bot to meet production requirements, including tweaking its appearance and improving its performance. The video shows G1’s leaping, turning, hopping, and dancing moves, as well as its ability to climb stairs full of rubble and adjust its gait in real time, stride over obstacles of varying heights, and start running. It’s even shown resolutely refusing to fall when faced with a brutal attack from one of the development team.
A quick rundown of the included specs doesn't reveal any significant improvements since we last checked, but the simulated reinforcement learning environment has delivered new tricks and improved performance. So we've got a humanoid that's 1.32m (4.33ft) tall and can fold down to 690 x 450 x 300mm (27 x 17.7 x 11.8in) if an operator wants to pick it up and put it away in a cupboard – but it's quite heavy at 35kg (77lb).
Unitree Robotics
Its LED-ringed face features 3D LiDAR and a RealSense depth camera. It has a noise-canceling microphone array for voice commands and a 5W stereo speaker for responses. All cabling is internally routed for clean lines and snag-free operation. A quick-release 9,000mAh battery is included for approximately 2 hours of use per charge. The joints offer a total of 23 degrees of freedom, and the humanoid can move around at speeds of up to 2 m/s (4.5 mph).
As mentioned, pricing starts at $16,000. Unitree describes this latest update as a production version, but has not confirmed that mass production is actually underway. You can learn more at the source link below.
Source: Unitree Robotics