Unitree G1 humanoid robot has speed, agility, a haunting faceless head, and it can be yours for $16,000. And, yes, it can take a punch.
The G1 is the more polished and accomplished follow-up to Unitree's H1 humanoid, a robot I saw doddering around like an old man at CES 2024. That bot walked slowly but remained upright even when Unitree developers delivered a kick to its stiff back. G1, by contrast, is more flexible and faster than its predecessor. It might even be able to run away from that kick.
In a recently released YouTube video (below), G1 gets up from a prone position, walks, runs, climbs stairs, and handles getting punched and kicked. It then settles onto a couch, rotates its arms and legs 360 degrees, and folds its 77-pound, 4-ft. tall body into a small, carryable size (a developer does come along and hoists G1 over his head). It even engages in a bit of krav maga stick work, which I believe demonstrates how it uses imitation and reinforcement training to learn new skills.
While Unitree G1 has LiDAR scanners built into its head, it lacks a face. It also doesn't ship with hands, but you can purchase a pair of three-fingered dextrous hands that can be used, at least according to the video and Unitree website, to crack walnuts, forcefully open a bottle of Coke, cook, and delicately solder electronics.
The specs promise two hours of battery life, but there's no indication it can recharge on its own, a skill I can expect even from the most run-of-the-mill iRobot Roomba robot vacuum.
For all its skill, the Unitree G1 is not intended as a home robot. The fine print in the announcement video states, "The humanoid robot has a complex structure and extremely powerful power. Users are asked to keep a sufficient safe distance between the humanoid robot and the humanoid robot. Please use with caution."
Yes, it appears there's an error in that statement since one assumes it might be completely safe to leave G1 alone with another G1 but not with your kids.
The video also notes that some of the skills featured are still under development. Between that and the fact you have to pay extra with the dextrous gripping hands, it's not clear exactly what you'd get if you have a spare $16,000 lying around.
The good news is that Unitree made significant progress from the H1 robot, and at this pace, there's a solid chance that by 2025, the next G1 will be cheaper, safer, and far more capable.
Maybe now's the time to start saving up.
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