Listing consumer electronics on the internet’s large ecommerce marketplaces is a key step in “democratizing” the products, allowing them to be purchased by anyone with just a click. It has happened to cars (in the United States, you can buy a Hyundai on Amazon), and now it’s happening to humanoid robots.
The Chinese manufacturer Unitree Robotics, among the most active robot-makers in the field, is preparing to bring its most affordable model, the Unitree R1, to international markets through Alibaba Group’s marketplace. According to reports in The South China Morning Post, the rollout will initially cover North America, Japan, Singapore, and Europe. There’s no exact on-sale date for the robots yet, but the Post report says it will show up as soon as this week.
This is not the first time Unitree has used AliExpress as a global storefront. The company’s G1 model, the more powerful and more expensive predecessor to the R1, is already listed at just under $19,000.
It’s as much of a symbolic step before as a commercial one; selling a humanoid robot on a global marketplace positions the product as easily attainable. This serves as a step toward normalization of the tech, which is still not widely adopted. The sale of the R1 simply lowers the threshold of access even further, and shifts humanoid robots from the territory of promise to that of concrete availability.
Lower Price, Higher Demand
When it was announced last summer, the starting price of the R1 was 39,900 yuan, or about $5,900. Today, the basic version starts at 29,900 yuan, or about $4,370.
That price will fluctuate given changes in exchange rates and shipping costs that add on import taxes and tariffs. Still, that figure sounds surprisingly low considering that some of the R1’s other competitors in the humanoid robotics landscape are far more expensive.
The price tag for Unitree’s own flagship H1 robot approaches $90,000. Tesla’s Optimus robot, which is not yet on sale to the public, is aiming for a starting price under $20,000, but that price will only be attainable when Tesla reaches production of 1 million units a year. Meanwhile, robots from Figure AI and Apptronik are hovering around $50,000 per unit. The R1’s objectively low price essentially makes it a hatchback in a world of sedans.
The R1 is 4 feet tall, weighs 50 pounds, and has 26 smart joints. You can talk to it and give it commands; Unitree’s large-language multimodal model with voice and image recognition is on board. Curious coders can program it using a software developer’s kit. But the real calling card is the R1’s physical performance. The robot can do cartwheels, lie down and stand up independently, and run downhill. Unitree calls it “born for sport,” and videos of its presentation made the rounds months ago. Handstands and wheel kicks are not exactly what you’d expect from a robot that costs less than a used car.
Put It to Work
As impressive as the Unitree R1’s moves are, it lacks hands with articulated fingers, and its motors can’t generate a lot of torque. It is not designed to be a domestic helper or to manipulate complex objects. The company presents it as an “intelligent companion” for interaction, research, and software development.
The EDU model (Go2 EDU, G1 EDU) add an Nvidia Jetson Orin module with more computing power for artificial intelligence tasks. That model also has two degrees of freedom for the head and optional right hands. In that robot’s case, the target market is laboratories and universities. The limitations of the basic R1 put it largely in the same camp. This is not a household robot that makes coffee and walks the dog, but it is a good choice for researchers, labs, and anyone who wants to test robotics algorithms on solid hardware without spending a fortune.
It is true that bringing a relatively capable humanoid to global markets at this price does lower the barrier to entry for developers, researchers, and enthusiasts. It is a real leap from a few years ago, even if some people will buy it just to keep it in the living room to take a bow when guests arrive.
This story was originally published by WIRED Italia and translated from Italian.