For lower than the worth of a totally decked-out MacBook Professional, you should purchase Unitree’s newest humanoid robotic referred to as the R1. You solely need to shell out $5,900 for a robotic that weighs round 55 lbs, stands about 4 ft tall, and is constructed with a Massive Multimodal Mannequin to deal with advanced duties.
When you’re questioning what the R1 will likely be used for, your guess is pretty much as good as ours. Unitree mentioned its robotic is “totally customizable” and demoed its capabilities in a video displaying off cartwheels, handstands, boxing, roundhouse kicks and working downhill, however did not provide examples with any sensible use but. The light-weight robotic has an ultra-wide view and a four-microphone array to assist it acknowledge voices and pictures, however was additionally constructed with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. It is not exhausting to check a world the place folks program the R1 as a robotic butler to deal with day by day chores, very like what Meta is reportedly engaged on. Nonetheless, you may even have the ability to sq. up two R1s to battle one another, as evidenced by Unitree selling a distinctive preventing event that felt like a much less aesthetically polished model of 2011’s Actual Metal.
The newest R1 is a a lot decrease entry level than Unitree’s earlier humanoid robotic, the G1, which begins at $16,000 and was demoed at CES 2025 with considerably disastrous outcomes. Although the R1’s sub-$6,000 price ticket is arguably excessive, it is nonetheless less expensive in comparison with different comparable choices, like Tesla’s Optimus bot that is anticipated to go for a minimum of $20,000.