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Cartwheeling robot can be yours for under $6000 [1]
['Gail Sherman']
Date: 2025-07-29
Unitree's humanoid robots can do kung fu, play soccer, and sometimes go berserk and attack people. Now, for the low price of $ 5,900, plus shipping, the Unitree R1 can perform cartwheels and handstands, kickbox, and run downhill. It can also stand up from a prone position in a somewhat human manner, without bending its limbs backward in the super creepy way that many robots do.
The R1 does look really cool and would be a fun toy, but at this point, that's all it is. This model is not going to do your laundry or cook for you, as its hands are permanently fixed in a fist. "Dextrous hands" are optional on the upgraded "EDU" model, which presumably costs significantly more than the standard model before adding hands. You could buy a pair of R1s and set up an almost life-sized game of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
While the robot in the promotional video has a superhero-adjacent paint job, the R1 ships in a bluish grey color. The product page touts a "user-customizable finish," which appears to mean that you paint it yourself. Additionally, the use of forced perspective creates the illusion that the R1 is human-sized, but it is actually slightly under four feet tall. With 26 articulated joints, it is extremely flexible and has a one-hour battery life.
Previously:
• Factory robot convinces 12 other robots to go on strike
• Here's why we don't have robot butlers yet
• Robotic parcel sorting facility in China
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[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2025/07/29/cartwheeling-robot-can-be-yours-for-under-6000.html
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