The Unitree G1 family, and which one you actually want.

The hardware is the same underneath

Every G1 shares a platform, which is why the configuration choice is about software and hands rather than about the robot itself. It stands 1.27 m tall, weighs 35 kg and is about 0.45 m across the shoulders, which is small for a humanoid and a large part of why it is affordable. It walks at up to 2 m/s.

Joint count runs from 23 degrees of freedom in the base configuration up to around 43 fully specified across legs, hips, torso, arms, wrists and hands. Maximum knee torque is 120 Nm and each arm handles up to 3 kg of payload, which places it firmly in the demonstration and light-manipulation bracket rather than anywhere near useful lifting.

Onboard compute is an Nvidia Jetson Orin 16G rated at 100 TOPS, enough to run navigation and motion locally rather than streaming to a server. Sensing is depth cameras plus an inertial measurement unit. The battery is 9,000 mAh, good for roughly two hours of active use and about 45 minutes to recharge from a standard outlet. That two-hour figure is under demo load; hard walking and manipulation will shorten it.

The split that matters: Basic cannot be programmed

This is the single fact to take away. The G1 Basic at $17,990 is remote-controlled. It does not ship with the SDK, it cannot run your own code, and Unitree does not offer an upgrade path from Basic to EDU. The robot you buy at that price is the robot you keep.

That is not a defect, it is a product decision. Basic exists for people who want a humanoid to appear, walk, gesture and draw a crowd: trade stands, retail displays, film and television, events, showrooms, social media. For that work it is remarkable value, because nothing else on the market puts a walking humanoid in a room for under twenty thousand dollars.

If you intend to write software, run ROS2, train policies or do any research at all, you need an EDU build. Those start at $43,900. The gap between $17,990 and $43,900 is the entire story of this product line, and it is routinely lost in coverage that quotes only the entry price.

The full family, by price

Demo and entertainment line: G1 Basic at $17,990, G1 Pro at $28,950 for entertainment work, G1 Comp at $46,900, and the G1 EDU Combat boxing configuration at $63,900. The Comp and Combat builds are typically quoted rather than bought from a cart.

EDU Pro, the programmable line, runs from $43,900 to $73,900. EDU Ultimate, which adds arm and waist mobility, runs from $53,900 to $83,900. Within each, the price moves almost entirely on one choice, covered next.

Buying from Unitree directly is cheaper on paper: their own store lists a base G1 at $13,500 plus shipping, with duties and import clearance on you. EDU builds are not sold through that checkout and have to be quoted.

Hands are what you are actually paying for

Inside EDU Pro, the robot is identical across every price point from $43,900 to $73,900. What changes is the end effector. Dummy hands, which do nothing, sit at the bottom. A Dex1-1 advanced gripper is $44,800. A Dex2/5 hand is $45,900. A SAKE EZGripper is $49,700. BrainCo Revo 2 Basic is $51,900, Dex3-1 is $54,900, Dex3-1 Tactile and BrainCo Revo 2 Touch are $56,900, and the Wuji Hand 2 tops the line at $73,900.

Thirty thousand dollars of the EDU Pro range is hands. That is the decision to spend real time on, because it is the one that determines what the robot can manipulate, and because it is far easier to get wrong than the robot itself.

The practical advice is to be honest about whether your work needs dexterity or only reach. Plenty of research runs perfectly well on a gripper, and a five-finger tactile hand you are not using is the most expensive ornament in the lab. BrainCo Revo 2 gives five independently actuated fingers if you genuinely need them.

Where US import rules currently stand

On 28 July 2026 the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, defined as mobile robots including humanoid and four-legged models, to its Covered List. The basis given was a White House interagency determination of unacceptable national security risk. The rule applies to foreign-produced devices regardless of nationality of origin and names no specific country or company.

What it does: new foreign-produced models are generally barred from receiving FCC equipment authorization, which is required to import, market or sell in the United States. What it does not do: models already authorized may still be imported, sold and used; retailers may continue to sell previously approved models; robots already purchased are unaffected; and federal agency purchase and use are not affected. Producers can also seek Conditional Approval through the Department of War to keep receiving authorizations.

The practical position for a G1 buyer today is that already-certified models remain available, and the exposure sits with future models rather than current stock. That is a moving picture rather than a settled one, so confirm the authorization status of the specific configuration before you commit a budget. Our guide on buying Chinese humanoids in the US goes through the wider legislative picture.

Buying one in the United States

The official US route is Toborlife AI, which operates as a Unitree partner out of Mountain View, California, with a showroom at 1088 Independence Ave where the robots can be seen running. They carry the G1 and G1-D alongside the R1 and H2 humanoids and the Go2, A2 and B2 quadrupeds, and list G1 Basic at $17,990, matching the wider US dealer price.

Buying domestically costs more than importing directly and removes the parts of the transaction that go wrong: customs clearance, duties, warranty routing and the question of who answers the phone when a joint fails. For a robot at this price with a two-hour battery and a research workload ahead of it, local support is not a luxury.

Whichever route you take, get a written ship date before committing budget. Stock positions on humanoids move quickly and in-stock on a web page is not the same as on a shelf.

Who should buy which

Events, retail, film, showrooms and social content: G1 Basic at $17,990. You want the robot to walk, gesture and be seen. Accept that it is a closed appliance and enjoy the price.

University teaching and entry-level research: EDU Pro with a gripper, around $44,800 to $49,700. Full SDK and ROS2, enough manipulation for coursework and early research, without spending thirty thousand on a hand before you know what you need.

Serious manipulation research: EDU Pro or Ultimate with a dexterous hand, $51,900 upward. Choose the hand against your actual task rather than against the spec sheet, and ask whoever will use it daily before ordering.

Curious, budget-constrained, or just want a bipedal platform to learn on: look at the R1 at $8,990 first. It is half the price of entry G1 and answers a lot of the same questions.

What it does not do

It does not work. A 3 kg per-arm payload and a two-hour battery describe a demonstration and research platform, not a machine that will carry anything meaningful around a building for a shift. Coverage that implies otherwise is describing a future product.

It is not autonomous out of the box in any useful sense. The Jetson Orin runs navigation and motion locally, but what the robot does with that capability is what you or your researchers program. On a Basic unit, you cannot program it at all.

And it is not a consumer product. There is no app-driven household humanoid here. The G1 is a developer and demonstration platform that happens to be priced within reach of individuals, which is a genuinely new thing and the real reason it matters.

Unitree is on the Pentagon list, and what that does not mean

On 8 June 2026 the Department of War released an updated Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies, adding 65 entities. Hangzhou Yushu Technology Co., Ltd., which trades as Unitree, was added as a new parent-level listing, alongside names including Alibaba, Baidu and BYD. The Federal Register notice of availability was published on 10 June 2026.

What the listing actually does is restrict federal procurement. Under Section 805 of the FY2024 defense authorization, the Department of War cannot enter, renew or extend a contract with a listed entity, effective 30 June 2026, and from 30 June 2027 cannot contract for goods or services that include items produced or developed by one. Those are contracting rules aimed at the Pentagon.

What it does not do is stop you buying a robot. The restrictions attach to federal contracting and federal funding, not to a private individual, a company or a university placing an order. The one place it can reach you indirectly is if your purchase is paid for by a federal contract or grant, in which case the terms of your own award are what matter, not the 1260H list as such. Read it as a policy and reputational signal rather than a barrier to your order, and if you buy on federal money, ask your grants office before you do.

Your G1 will keep getting firmware

The obvious worry about buying a robot whose category just landed on a government list is whether it turns into a brick. On the firmware question specifically, the answer is reassuring and it is in writing. On 28 July 2026, the same day it added advanced robotic devices to the Covered List, the FCC issued waiver DA 26-789 permitting software and firmware permissive changes for devices that already held authorization. It runs through at least 1 January 2029.

The limit is worth understanding. The waiver covers certain Class I and Class II permissive changes, which in practice means software and firmware. Hardware changes are not covered without a separate waiver. So a G1 authorized before 28 July keeps receiving software updates for years; a hardware revision to an existing model is a different and less settled question.

The thing to watch is the Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, issued with the Third Report and Order of 22 July 2026. Among other things it proposes cutting the research and development import allowance for foreign-produced robots from 4,000 units a year to 40, and adding bill-of-materials disclosure requirements. That is a proposal rather than a rule and no comment deadline has been stated, but if you import units for research it is the development that would affect you most.