robotindex Unitree R1
Compact, lightweight humanoid from Unitree, sold in AIR, Standard, and EDU configurations spanning hobbyist to research/development budgets. Smaller and far cheaper than the G1, aimed at education and secondary development.
Manufacturer page — unitree.com/R1 →
Image: Unitree Robotics (official)
Specs
Battery
~1 hrquick-release smart battery
Weight
~25–29 kgvaries by configuration
Height
1.21 m~1230mm footprint height
Connectivity
WiFi 6+ Bluetooth 5.2
Compute
8-core CPUEDU adds Jetson Orin NX, 40 TOPS
Degrees of Freedom
20–40AIR: 20 · Standard: 26 · EDU: up to 40 w/ hands
Arm Payload
~2 kgEDU configuration
Warranty
12 monthsEDU configuration
Reference Price
From $4,900 (AIR) direct from Unitree's US shop, in stock. Standard configuration is $5,900; EDU (with Jetson Orin NX and optional dexterous hands) runs around $15,950 per retailer listings — Unitree's own site lists EDU as contact-for-price. In China, the entry price was cut to roughly ¥29,900 (~$4,200) as of April 2026, down from a ¥39,900 launch price. Unitree's official AliExpress store began listing R1 for international buyers (North America, Europe, Japan, Singapore) in April 2026, with first deliveries reported starting around June 30, 2026 — AliExpress pricing runs higher than the direct China price (observed around $6,800–$8,100) once shipped internationally.
Sensors & Hardware
Base AIR: monocular camera, 20 DOF. Standard/EDU add a binocular depth camera, 2-DOF waist, 2-DOF head (26 DOF total, up to 40 with EDU's optional dexterous hand). All variants include a 4-mic array, stereo speakers, joint encoders, and PMSM joint motors with air cooling. EDU adds an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX for onboard AI compute. No 3D LiDAR included.
Insights
No recalls, lawsuits, safety incidents, or data-privacy reports were found for the Unitree R1 in the sources reviewed here.
Firmware & Community
Unitree SDK2 (unitree_sdk2_python)
Same official local control SDK used by the G1 and Go2, built on CycloneDDS. Listed in Builds & Mods.
Specs sourced from Unitree's official R1 product page and cross-checked against RoboStore's EDU listing, plus coverage of the April 2026 China price cut and AliExpress global listing (Bloomberg, SCMP, Notebookcheck, Interesting Engineering) and a July 2026 pricing review (RoboZaps), as of September 2026. robotindex does not sell this product — pricing shown is for reference and may vary by configuration and retailer. AliExpress delivered-owner reports were still only beginning to appear as of the most recent source checked, so treat the international shipping timeline as recent rather than long-established.