Unitree G1 — A $16,000 Humanoid and China's Humanoid Push

The Unitree G1 is a small humanoid robot that Unitree Robotics of Hangzhou, China, unveiled in May 2024 at the ICRA 2024 robotics conference. It stood 1.27 m tall, weighed 35 kg, and its base version was priced at $16,000. While Optimus and Figure in the US were still at the stage of factory trials, Unitree put out a humanoid robot that researchers and developers could actually afford, and became one of the leading names in Chinese humanoids.

From four legs to two

According to Caixin, Unitree was founded in Hangzhou in 2016 and started out with four-legged robots. According to Gasgoo, which covered its listing process, cumulative sales of its quadrupeds have passed 33,000, and overseas sales have consistently made up more than 40% of revenue. Its chairman is Wang Xingxing.

Its first humanoid product was the H1, launched in August 2023 according to TechNode. According to heise online, the H1 stood 1.8 m tall, weighed 47 kg and cost from $90,000.

G1: a $16,000 humanoid

heise online introduced the G1, unveiled at ICRA 2024, as the first affordable general-purpose humanoid robot.

With a payload of about 2 kg, heise online wrote, the G1 was aimed more at tasks such as assembly than at heavy industrial labour. Some degrees of freedom, such as the wrist joints, were reserved for the higher-end G1 EDU, whose price was available only on request. Selling small, cheap machines in volume as a base for research and development stands in contrast to the US approach of putting a few large machines into one's own or partners' factories.

Humanoids as national strategy

Unitree's growth overlaps with Chinese industrial policy. In 2023 China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued guidance on the innovative development of humanoid robots. According to a Science and Technology Daily article carried by Xinhua, the targets were, by 2025, to establish the initial framework of a humanoid innovation system, achieve breakthroughs in key technologies such as the brain, cerebellum and limbs of a robot, and secure a safe and effective supply of core components; and, by 2027, to raise innovation capability markedly, build a safe and reliable supply chain and an internationally competitive industrial ecosystem, and reach a world-advanced level overall.

In its 2025 paper the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) observed that China has placed humanoids at the centre of its national strategy as a way to show the country's competitiveness. The emphasis, it said, is first on service sectors such as customer service, with manufacturing automation as a second step, and building a scalable supply chain for components is a key goal.

January 2025: the Spring Festival stage

Unitree's humanoids reached their biggest stage on 28 January 2025, at China Central Television's (CCTV) Spring Festival Gala. According to TechNode, more than a dozen H1s in floral vests, twirling red handkerchiefs, danced the traditional Chinese folk dance yangge alongside human dancers. The programme, called Yang BOT, was created by the film director Zhang Yimou with Unitree and the Xinjiang Arts Institute. TechNode reported that AI-driven full-body motion control technology underpinned the performance. According to Caixin, Unitree's humanoids appeared on the Spring Festival Gala again in 2026.

2026: listing on the STAR Market

In 2026 Unitree moved to list on the STAR Market, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's board for technology companies. According to Caixin, the listing committee cleared its application on 1 June, and the securities regulator approved its registration in July. Its revenue in 2025 was 1.69 billion yuan, up from 123 million yuan in 2022, and its 2025 profit was 278 million yuan. According to Gasgoo, Unitree says it shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, which the article describes as more than any other company in the world. That is the company's own figure.

It listed on 19 August 2026 under the code 688836. According to Xinhua Finance, it opened at 1,100 yuan a share, 629.44% above the offer price, and was still up 486.12% at the midday break. The numbers show the scale of expectations around humanoids, but a share price is a bet on future growth, not a measure of how much work robots are actually doing.

Expectations and reality

In 2025 the IFR's president said that if and when mass adoption of humanoids will take place remains uncertain. Even so, Unitree has shipped humanoids at prices within reach and has had national strategy, a national stage and the stock market on its side. Alongside Boston Dynamics' electric Atlas, Tesla and Figure in the US, the humanoid race has become part of the industrial competition between the United States and China. The wider story is in the humanoid and AI robots timeline.