Unitree R1 is a lightweight full-body humanoid robot made by Unitree Robotics of Hangzhou, China, on sale today starting at $4,900 for the Air variant through Unitree's own online store — positioned as one of the most affordable full humanoid robots on the market. It is aimed at education, research, and algorithm-development customers rather than industrial or household buyers.
What it is
R1 is a small, agile, general-purpose humanoid robot aimed at education, research, and algorithm development. Unitree has demonstrated it performing side flips, handstands, cartwheels, and boxing-style moves to showcase its dynamic mobility.
Manufacturer & origin
R1 is made by Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou Yushu Technology Co., Ltd.), the Chinese robotics company behind the Go-series quadrupeds and the G1/H1 humanoids. R1 was unveiled in July 2025 as the company's lowest-cost full humanoid robot.
Build type & design
R1 is a lightweight bipedal humanoid with 26 joint modules (6 per leg, 2 in the waist, 5 per arm, 2 in the head), an 8-core CPU, monocular or binocular vision depending on variant, a 4-microphone array, and a hot-swappable lithium battery. An optional dexterous hand and NVIDIA Jetson Orin compute module are available on the EDU variant for custom AI development. Unitree built R1 around low-inertia motors with dual/single encoders so it can perform highly dynamic, gymnastics-style movements, which the company has used in public demos to highlight the robot's agility relative to its low price.
Core specs
- Height: about 121 cm (1230 mm standing)
- Weight: about 25–29 kg depending on configuration
- Degrees of freedom: 20–26 in base configurations, up to 40 with optional components
- Runtime: roughly 1 hour of mixed activity on a hot-swappable battery
- Compute: 8-core CPU; optional NVIDIA Jetson Orin (EDU variant, 40–100 TOPS)
What it's used for
R1 is positioned as an educational and research platform for algorithm development, human-robot interaction demos, and robotics coursework rather than industrial or household labor. Out of the box it is remote-controlled; full autonomy requires secondary development by the buyer. Its low weight and price make it attractive for classroom sets and multi-robot research setups where budget or portability rules out larger humanoids like G1 or H1.
Availability & price
R1 is a current product, orderable through Unitree's online shop in Air, standard, and EDU variants. As of mid-2026, pricing starts at $4,900 for R1 Air, with the standard R1 model separately priced, and the EDU configuration (including optional dexterous hands) priced on request from Unitree sales. Unitree has said that broader global commercial adoption of humanoid robots "will still take some time," positioning R1 as a development and research tool rather than a finished commercial worker.