China’s Unitree Robotics is a relative newcomer to the general-purpose humanoid robot market, but its $16,000 G1 model has already proven quite capable, so the company has now unveiled a version that’s ready for mass production.
Until December of last year, Unitree’s robotics development had been focused on building quadruped robotic beasts like the Go2 and B2. And by the time the first two-legged humanoid robot made its video debut, it was already facing stiff competition from companies like Tesla, Figure, Boston Dynamics, and Sanctuary AI.
But the progress has been impressive, and the $90,000 first attempt was soon joined by a much cheaper and more capable model called the G1, which has a visor-like face instead of an air gap and a three-digit needle where the stump once was. It also looks less like a development platform and more like it’s headed for production, and now it seems ready to make that leap.
Unitree G1 mass production version, leap into the future!
Unitree says its engineers have been fine-tuning the general-purpose bot for months since its May reveal to meet mass-production requirements. That includes tweaking its appearance and improving its performance. The video shows G1 jumping, twisting, leaping, and dancing, climbing up a flight of stairs littered with debris, adjusting its gait in real time, navigating obstacles of varying heights, and even trying to avoid falling when one of its developers attacks it viciously.
To summarize the given specs briefly, there are no notable improvements since the last time we looked, but the simulated reinforcement learning environment has brought some new tricks and improved performance. So what we have is a humanoid that is 1.32 m (4.33 ft) tall and can fold down to 690 x 450 x 300 mm (27 x 17.7 x 11.8 in) if the worker wants to pick it up and put it in a cupboard. It is also quite heavy at 35 kg (77 lb).
Unitree Robotics
The face with the LED ring houses the 3D LiDAR and RealSense depth camera. It includes a noise-cancelling microphone array for voice commands and 5W stereo speakers for responses. All cables are internally routed for clean lines and unobstructed operation. A quick-release 9,000 mAh battery is included, providing approximately 2 hours of use per charge. The joints provide a total of 23 degrees of freedom, and the humanoid can move at speeds of up to 2 m/s (4.5 mph).
As mentioned, prices start at $16,000. Unitri describes this latest update as a mass production version, but has not confirmed if it is actually in mass production. You can check out more details via the source link below.
Source: Unitree Robotics
