Rising Star in the Robotics Industry: Unitree Robotics

In December 2024, a viral short video of Unitree's B2-W robot dog sparked global discussions. In the video, the robot dog smoothly performs a breakdancing routine, slides down a rocky slope at nearly a 90-degree angle, charges into a slippery river, and continues to move forward steadily.

 

Soon after, during the 2025 Chinese New Year Gala, a group of robots dressed in floral cotton jackets, holding red scarves, performed traditional Chinese dances with precision and fluidity, synchronizing perfectly with the drumbeats. This once again captured widespread attention. The robot featured in this performance was the Unitree H1, released by Unitree in August 2023. Just this past weekend, Unitree released another video, claiming “algorithm upgrades, dance any time, learn any time.”

 

So, what is the strength of Unitree Robotics?

Founded by Wang Xingxing in 2016, who previously worked at DJI, Unitree began with only four employees. Within a year, the team developed the motor, motor driver, control system, and mechanical structure for their robot, launching the Laikago, the world's first consumer-level quadruped robot, with a retail price of 20,000 RMB.

 

In 2019, Unitree launched an improved version of Laikago, the AlienGo, the largest and most capable quadruped robot at the time, capable of performing backflips. Over the next few years, Unitree introduced various models such as the Unitree A1, Unitree Go1, B1, GO2, B2, and B2-W, targeting both industrial robots for security inspections and public rescue as well as consumer-level robots.

 

In addition to quadruped robots, Unitree launched the H1 bipedal robot in August 2023, marking the first full-size humanoid robot in China capable of running.

 

In May 2024, Unitree released the G1, which can cook eggs, crack walnuts with its hands, and even open a bottled soda with one strike. Its walking and running gaits have been significantly upgraded, allowing it to move seamlessly on streets and rocky surfaces and even run sideways on sloped terrain while maintaining balance, earning it the nickname “the strongest robot on Earth”.

Notably, the price of this humanoid robot starts at only 99,000 RMB, a highly cost-effective option compared to other humanoid robots that typically cost several hundred thousand or even millions of RMB (such as Tesla’s Optimus, which is estimated to cost over $20,000).

 

Thanks to technological breakthroughs and product performance advantages, Unitree has secured a dominant position in the global quadruped robot market. According to data from the High-tech Robotics Industry Research Institute, Unitree held 69.75% of the global quadruped robot market share in terms of sales volume and 40.65% in terms of market size in 2023. As a result, Unitree has been referred to as the “DJI of ground robots”.

 

In contrast, Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992, has consistently generated global interest with videos of its Spot quadruped robot and Atlas humanoid robot. However, its commercialization has faced significant challenges, and the company has been sold multiple times. Its technological strength and market share are far behind Unitree’s.

 

In the humanoid robot sector, Unitree achieved small-scale production in the second half of 2023 and is now the company with the most orders for humanoid robots worldwide (according to an interview with Wang Xingxing, no third-party statistics are available).

 

Unitree’s product performance is among the global top tier. Although Unitree entered the humanoid robot field relatively late (in 2023), it took only six months from project initiation to the launch of the H1, largely due to its use of quadruped robot hardware and software technology.

 

Therefore, Unitree has released mass-produced products in both quadruped and humanoid robots and has undergone small-scale commercialization, entering the global top tier. With strong technological capabilities, Unitree is highly likely to secure a position in the humanoid robot market in the future.

 

Unitree’s current market position is closely tied to its technological advantages, including high-torque density motor technology (self-developed M series motors, costing only 50% of imported motors), dynamic motion control algorithms, modular joints, lightweight materials, innovative sensing, and AI interaction systems.

 

In hardware, Unitree adopts a lower-cost, lightweight technological approach, which significantly differs from Tesla's Optimus robot's technological route, affecting production costs and future mass production capabilities.

 

In AI software, there is no clear global framework yet. There are two common AI architectures: one applies large language multimodal models directly to robots and adds basic operation motion sets to enable the language model to perform tasks; the other involves collecting massive amounts of motion data to train the robot, which is the approach used by Tesla’s Optimus.

 

Currently, Unitree is also developing an AI general model, but since it started later, its chances of becoming the first company to implement an AI model for robots globally are lower. Competitors like Huawei and NVIDIA are stronger in this field.

 

Overall, Unitree’s hardware technology in humanoid robots is at an industry-leading level, and while its AI software is still developing, its future competitive advantages cannot be overlooked.