The race to place a humanoid robot in each home accelerates, and $ 5,900 Unitree R1 robot Sprint maybe at the front of the package.
Unitree revealed the pintstore but “powerful” Android on Friday with a new YouTube video and then followed with more details on an official product page on their website.
In the video, the Unitree R1 Intelligent Companion shows its remarkable movement skills that include carriage wheels, hand stages, boxing, kickboxing movements and even running down a hill.
The robot is equipped with binoculars vision supported by LLM image and voice identification features. However, none of that was exhibited in the video that focused on movement. In fact, there is a short message at the end of the clip that says, “Movement first, tasks too (a diversity of movement is the basis for performing tasks)”.
Unitree is known for producing versatile humanoid bots. I have seen a couple of personal, including the small but supple G1 and the higher and somewhat more scary H1. G1 lists for $ 16,000, and H1 lists for $ 90,000. Prices under $ 6,000 are unheard of for unitree and humanoid offerings in general. Figure AIS Figure 02, for example, is likely to list over $ 30,000.
As for the $ 5,900 can get you, R1 is about four meters high and weighs approx. 55 kg, so that’s the size of a child. It has the aforementioned binoculars camera, a 4-microphone array, speakers, an 8-core CPU and GPU (no word on whose silicon but Unitree has worked with Nvidia), 26 joints and hands that appear to be permanently attached to knuckles. There is a removable battery that promises an hour of activity.
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However, there are some significant warnings to consider. Unitree warns that the final robot may look different from what is currently being shown. At the bottom of the product side are some more serious (and often confusing) warnings including:
“Currently, the global humanoid robotics industry in the early stages of investigation. Individual users are strongly advised to thoroughly understand the limitations of humanoid robots before making a purchase.”
and
“The humanoid robot has a complex structure and extremely powerful force. Users are asked to maintain a sufficiently safe distance between humanoid robot and humanoid robot. Please use with caution.”
So while the Unitree R1 may be beaten like a home help robot, it is hardly ready to be in anyone’s home.
Despite the built -in AI, R1’s level of intelligence and autonomy is a mystery. Most of the Unitree robots I have witnessed on CES have either been externally controlled or ran through a set of previously screeny movements. To be useful in any home, they must marry all sensors with attention and enough intelligence to help and not hurt their human owners.
Still, less than $ 6,000 for a robot with these advertised skills is something of a humanoid robotics breakthrough. I wonder if we can get one into the laboratories.
