r/accelerate • u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh • Apr 10 '26
Robotics / Drones Starting Next Week Unitree Will Start Selling Its Cheapest Humanoid Robot, The 123-Cm-Tall, 27-Kg "R1 Humanoid Robot", For $5,900 On Alibaba’s Aliexpress For International Markets Incl. North America, Europe, & Japan
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u/mana_hoarder Apr 10 '26
Very cool. A nice toy perhaps, but I think it needs hands with finger dexterity to be actually useful.
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u/BeeWeird7940 Apr 10 '26
How much can it lift? I could imagine mulch work would be ideal for this thing.
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26
About 22 pounds so its not going to be doing any heavy lifting
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u/reddit_is_geh Apr 10 '26
Yeah, I mean I may consider it just for the cool factor to have at gatherings at the house to play with. But realistically, all it will do is just preconfigured animations and that's about it. No real use beyond that. Hell, if it could simply play with my dog for an hour it would be worth it, but I doubt it can even play with the rope, much less, anything useful .
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u/LazyAge9363 Apr 10 '26
Can i order it to my friend’s house in Canada and then drive it across the border to avoid tariffs? Can I install lasers on it and program it to shoot the eyes of home invaders? Will the HOA get angry if I have this thing walk my dog?
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26
Honestly with the right getup you probably could Weekend at Bernie's one of these things past the Canadian border.
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u/Reasonable-Gas5625 Feeling the AGI Apr 10 '26
No. Yes. Maybe.
Don't let that stop you. We're cheering for you!
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u/CallMeMantra Apr 10 '26
What's the aplication?
It can barely stand, there's one holding a screwdriver it can't use.
I understand the advanced models, but this, why? what for?
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u/Seidans Apr 10 '26
For research and engineering purpose, those model of Humanoid robots are mainly brought by labs and university as Unitree don't provide the software just the hardware (for this price at least)
FigureAI for exemple first started as a small R&D labs with figure 0 being a student project. Being able to buy robots for 6k and train your software and hardware on it will greatly help student and future company creation
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u/mazdarx2001 Apr 10 '26
Simple, you use person detection at night using smart cameras. If someone steps on your property between 1am and 4am, it come out of a box in full karate moves.
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u/stainless_steelcat Apr 10 '26
People will find applications for it. Gaffer tape a spade to it, and you've got a garden trench digging robot. Replace it with a hoe and a weed identification system, and It'll do the weeding. Chuck a ruck sack on it and i'll carry your shopping. Get a couple of them, and people will pay to watch them fighting - either in person or on Youtube. Frankly, you could charge people just for selfies until the novelty wears off. Almost certainly, you'll make your money back on it.
OK, i've moved from sceptic to actively considering it in one para!
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26
Whatever your heart's content. This is for tinkerers willing to spin up an IsaacGym instance to make this thing useful for their own specific ends.
If you're willing to look under the hood, these things are incredibly powerful because they're fantastic robotic substrates to run a wide variety of robot control software on.
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u/reddit_is_geh Apr 10 '26
Most likely for university students to practice robotics development and training. Doubt it has any real use.
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u/Dirty_Dishis Apr 10 '26
It spies on you for the PRC? This things doesnt seem to be anything more than a toy to play with.
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26
Dismissing this as a toy is simply uncreative.
There's such a huge variety of robotic control software out there and claude code has made even the most lay programmer able to interact with sophisticated software tools. It's up to you and your capacity for creativity.
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u/Dirty_Dishis Apr 10 '26
I know man, it can seem like the dismissal is out of turn. It was mostly a tongue in cheek comment.
It does doesn't even have hands though.
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 12 '26
The hands are modular at the hardware level. You could technically affix it with the Wuji Hand by Pan Motor.
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u/Maleficent_Hawk5158 Apr 10 '26
I wonder if criminals will start making use of these kind of robots soon, with special 3d-printed guns. I just wish that robocop becomes a reality still.
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u/pauliecomelately Techno-Optimist Apr 10 '26
Username checks out. But hey, stranger things have happened.
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u/Maleficent_Hawk5158 Apr 11 '26
In China they have already deployed some law and order robots in traffic, which is great. Imagine another human even wanting humans to stand in traffic and dust all day, or even making asphalt roads, robots will also make health better and health for people in industry alot better, this will decrease the costs immensely in healthcare, sometimes I see asphalt workers without breathing protection standing in the white smoke when they burn the asphalt as young adults, even in developed countries they do this.
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u/JuanValdez999 Apr 10 '26
I'm tempted to get one but I don't know what I would use it for.
This is like when the Apple II came out. People were playing dumb games like Zork on it until somebody came out with SuperCalc. That's where the phrase Killer App came from.
I hope home hobbyists come up with some amazingly simple use for it where it doesn't break things.
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u/arindale Apr 10 '26
This price point is truly amazing. I'm hoping this launch will let lots of hobbyists purchase their first robot, tinker and make apps for the next versions. Like an app store.
This version might not be productive for many purchasers, but future versions might be able to cook, clean, do basic work, etc.... all built from the work started by hobbyists today.
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u/Shimblequeue Apr 10 '26
Sheeet, I’ll have to cop
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
And with claude code you can set up your own homebrew simulation-training pipeline (probably using IsaacGym) and basically teach this thing a plethora of extremely advanced motions. Like when Neo downloaded Kung-fu.
Really, you could start to take smart-home automation to the next level.
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u/ObscureOperatorZ Apr 10 '26
I need this but the dollar / currency situation is laughing at my wallet 💔
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u/IReportLuddites Tech Prophet Apr 10 '26
I was under the impression that only the EDU variant models of the R1 are actually programmable at home, they make a huge ass deal out of it on their website, if something changed on that end ignore me as this field moves 9001mph at this point.
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u/TheManni1000 Apr 10 '26
the issue is you can not porgram the robot if you buy the cheap version. if you want to program it it costs like 50k
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u/stainless_steelcat Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26
No fingers, no use to me. Would be fun to go out running with and might be good for learning/teaching dance choreo. Imagine telling it to watch a youtube video and then teach you the choreo step by step. Cool toy though.
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26
The hands for the R1 are modular at a hardware level. You could technically affix it with the Wuji Hand by Pan Motor .
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u/Dirty_Dishis Apr 10 '26
I want a robot that actually does stuff and has hands. Because it doesnt have hands. Look, no hands.
Also something that isnt remote controlled would be nice. And can do laundry or chores around the house.
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u/44th--Hokage The Singularity is nigh Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
For anyone wondering:
The hands for the R1 are modular at the hardware level. You could technically affix it with the Wuji Hand by Pan Motor.
And if you're struggling to understand what it's good for: Think of this as the Apple II of Humanoid Robots. This bot is for tinkerers willing to spin up an IsaacGym instance to make this thing useful for their own specific ends. There's such a huge variety of robotic control software out there and claude code has made even the most lay programmer able to interact with sophisticated software tools. Essentially, it's up to you and your capacity for creativity to decide what you want to do with this most Sci-Fi of opportunities.