Unitree G1 Review 2026: Price, Specs and Who It Is For

The G1 is a mid-size, two-legged humanoid robot from Unitree Robotics, a Hangzhou company best known for its robot dogs. Unitree listed on Shanghai's STAR Market in August 2026, and it is one of the two biggest humanoid makers by volume: an estimate by Smart Analytics Global puts its first-half 2026 shipments at about 5,900 humanoids, while IDC, reported by Forbes, puts it at roughly 5,000.

Most of those robots go to universities, research labs and companies building AI for robots. Unitree's own 2025 disclosures showed research and education made up about three quarters of its humanoid revenue. That tells you who the G1 is really for.

The headline price is $13,500 from Unitree's own store, excluding tax and shipping. In the UK, Scan listed the G1 (model code UNITREE-G1-STANDARD) at £20,999.99 including VAT on 26 October 2026, with next-day delivery. US resellers commonly list the base G1 from about $17,990.

The important detail is the version:

• G1 (base): runs Unitree's built-in walking, balancing and preset moves, controlled by remote and app. It does not support secondary development, so you cannot write your own control software.
• G1 EDU: unlocks programming access, adds optional three-fingered force-controlled hands, extra wrist and waist joints, and optional Nvidia Orin computing. Unitree quotes it on request. US resellers list EDU builds at roughly $43,900 to over $80,000 depending on hands and computing.

Add shipping, import duties for non-UK stock, and accessories such as spare batteries before you budget.

• Height and weight: 132 cm standing and about 35 kg with battery. It folds to 69 cm tall for storage.
• Joints: 23 degrees of freedom on the base model (6 per leg, 5 per arm, 1 waist), up to 43 on EDU versions with hands.
• Battery: a 9,000 mAh quick-release pack giving about 2 hours.
• Sensors: depth camera plus 3D LiDAR, a 4-microphone array and a 5 W speaker.
• Arm payload: about 2 kg on the base model and about 3 kg on EDU, and Unitree notes this varies with arm position.
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.
• Warranty: 8 months for the base G1 and 18 months for EDU.

MotorTrend's teardown coverage (June 2026) describes it as 4 ft 2 in tall and just under 80 lb, which matches Unitree's figures.

Out of the box, the G1 walks, balances, recovers from pushes, gets up from the floor and performs preset routines such as dances and martial arts moves. It responds to a remote control and app.

With an EDU version and programming skills, labs use it to train new skills. Nvidia publishes an end-to-end physical AI workflow for the G1, and university projects have shown it learning whole-body tasks such as handling boxes from short human demonstrations.

What it does not do is housework. A 2 kg arm payload and 2 hours of battery make it a platform for experiments, not a helper. If you want a home robot, read our humanoid robots for the home guide first.

Choose the R1 if you want the cheapest real walking humanoid for learning, demos and coding, and can live with about an hour of battery and no LiDAR. It starts at $4,900. See our Unitree R1 review.

Choose the G1 if you need LiDAR mapping, a bigger developer community and twice the battery life. It is the best-documented of the three.

Choose the H2 if your research needs a robot of adult height (182 cm), for example to reach worktops or shelves built for people. It costs $29,900 before the EDU upgrade.

• Confirm the version in writing before paying: base and EDU look identical in photos.
• Check warranty and repairs. Eight months is short for a five-figure machine. Ask the seller who handles repairs in your country.
• UK buyers: a UK retailer price that includes VAT, such as Scan's, avoids surprise import charges. Check the charger suits UK mains.
• Space and safety: a 35 kg robot that can fall needs a clear area. Keep children and pets away while it moves.

For more on UK options, see how to buy a humanoid robot in the UK.

For a university, a robotics start-up or a well-funded maker, yes: there is no better-supported humanoid at this price that ships today. For anyone else, probably not. The base G1 is an impressive demo machine, but you cannot program it, and the EDU versions cost as much as a car. If you mainly want to learn, the R1 is better value. If you want help at home, no G1 version will provide it.