China's Unitree Robotics offers a humanoid robot for under $6,000

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By Bloomberg News

  Unitree Robotics is marketing one of the world’s first humanoid robots for under $6,000, drastically reducing the entry price for what’s expected to grow into a whole wave of versatile AI machines for the workplace and home. 

The startup, among the frontrunners in Chinese robotics, on Friday announced its R1 bot with a starting price of 39,900 yuan (or $5,900). The machine weighs just 25kg and has 26 joints, the company said in a video posted to WeChat. It’s equipped with multimodal artificial intelligence that includes voice and image recognition. 

The four-figure price tag highlights the ambitions of a new generation of startups trying to leapfrog the US in a groundbreaking technology. Unitree rose to prominence in February after CEO Wang Xingxing joined big names like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Pony Ma at a widely publicized summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

The new robot’s launch coincides with China’s biggest AI forum, set to kick off this weekend with star founders, Beijing officials and AI-hungry venture investors converging in Shanghai. The World Artificial Intelligence Conference will bring together many of the key figures expected to drive China’s efforts around AI, which is finding a physical expression in the rapid development of more humanoid robots. 

After decades of dominance by American companies like Boston Dynamics, Chinese companies are pushing ahead with humanoids for factories, households and even military use. Pricing is crucial to their proliferation. 

Unitree’s older G1 robot, which found a home in research labs and schools, was priced at $16,000. A more advanced and larger H1 model goes for $90,000-plus. Rival UBTech Robotics Corp. said recently that it planned a $20,000 humanoid robot that can serve as a household companion this year, seeking to expand beyond factories. 

If it works as advertised, Unitree’s new robot would mark a milestone for the robotics industry, particularly when it comes to complex humanoids. Morgan Stanley Research estimates that the cost of the most-sophisticated humanoid in 2024 was around $200,000.