Unitree Robotics has launched the R1, a remarkable humanoid robot capable of walking, running, dancing, cartwheeling, and even kung-fu kicks. It can also respond to voice commands and hold basic spoken conversations using integrated, AI-powered speech recognition, and process visual inputs via its built-in cameras.
Even more remarkable is its price: $5,900.
China-based Unitree has designed the R1 as an affordable, lightweight humanoid robot and is aiming it at developers, tech enthusiasts, research labs, and educational institutions, though actually anyone can buy it.
It’s not clear if Unitree has any particular ambitions for the practical use of the R1, but that’s partly why it’s making it available to one and all, as developers will no doubt be keen to see what they can get it doing. A home help? Perhaps. Face-to-robot-face customer service at malls, airports, and hotels? Maybe. Entertainers? That already looks like a safe bet.
The R1 humanoid robot stands at 47.6 inches (1.21 meters) tall and tips the scales at 55 pounds (25 kg).
As you can see from the footage in the video at the top of this page, the robot is extremely versatile, thanks in part to its 26 functional joints, which, to be frank, is more than what many humans have the day after some particularly strenuous exercise.
The R1 is powered by a lithium battery, but at the current time it can only offer one hour of operation before it needs charging. Sadly, unlike Ubtech’s Walker S2 robot, it can’t swap out its own batteries, so you’ll have to do that yourself.
Importantly, it also comes with a remote control, so you can quickly turn it off in the unlikely event that it suddenly goes rogue.
Notably, the R1 costs considerably less than Unitree’s more complex G1, another humanoid robot that it released last year for $16,000.
Compared to the G1, the R1 has been deliberately designed to be a simpler humanoid robot suitable for educational and light research use.
Unitree is one of a growing number of tech firms globally that are developing smart, agile, bipedal robots. The technology has improved dramatically in recent years, with many companies eyeing them for industrial use where they can work alongside human workers, though of course many suggest that at some point those human workers will be replaced.
