Unitree showed its G1 robot moving on wheels, rollers and… skates. The machine maintains balance in difficult types of movement, and this has always been seen as their limit. It’s hard to resist the impression that progress is happening here from week to week…
Robots, not only from Unitree, have been doing things for years that a decade ago were the domain of only futuristic visions. Today, they can run, walk, get up after falls, climb stairs and sometimes do acrobatics without any problems, but the most difficult thing is not so much to perform the movement as to maintain it smoothly without stopping. The video from Unitree showing the G1 model is very impressive in such conditions. It’s even more amazing that our Polish robo-influencer in chief, Edward Warchocki, is Unitree G1.
Robot on roller skates
G1 first moves on two large wheels, shifting its weight from side to side, and works with its hands as if correcting its movement. Then it does spins and a roll. The next stage is roller skating, where there is a change of direction, footwork and rotation on one leg. After that, the robot moves on the ice and the low grip there greatly limits the margin of error: but it still manages to cope.
It is important for the robot to quickly predict how the mass shift will affect the rest of the structure. People do it largely reflexively, using the body, the brain and muscle memory that are perfectly adapted to it. The machine must rely on sensors, a motion model, drive control and real-time corrections, which is much more difficult for it.
Wheels and legs in one design
Wheeled robots are energy-efficient and fast on flat ground, but they perform worse where there are obstacles, thresholds, stairs or irregular terrain. Walking robots are more flexible in this context, but they usually pay for it with higher energy consumption, lower “working” speed and more difficult control. In this demonstration, Unitree gives the robot the ability to roll when the terrain allows it, and maintain a body capable of manipulating objects: so that they are useful, e.g. in factories and warehouses.
Unitree G1 measures 132 cm and weighs 35 kg with battery, and the basic version has 23 degrees of freedom. The G1 EDU variant can have from 23 to 43 degrees of freedom, depending on the configuration, thanks to, among other things, additional hand and wrist elements. Unitree separately describes the G1-D platform as a data and training solution, along with a Flagship version weighing approximately 80 kg, differential drive, speeds of up to 1.5 m/s and a runtime of approximately six hours. The same specification includes the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16 GB module with a power of up to 100 TOPS: this component allows the processing of AI models locally, without network connectivity.
The robots are coming for us
Unitree, following the success of walking robots, is testing continuous movement without a clear position reset between subsequent maneuvers. And now this: a robot in a warehouse, laboratory or production plant cannot stop after each change of direction, as if it were taken straight from a cheap sci-fi movie. It should run smoothly and predictably. Unitree wants to give this to its customers and at the same time show the world that China is a leader in robotics. And… that’s how it is. Boston Dynamics creates great machines, but more and more often I have the impression that the Chinese have made up for years of backlog in a very short time.
Read also: Almost no one can escape this robot. He is Edward Warchocki’s “cousin”.
Unfortunately, the wonderful display of G1’s capabilities does not mean it is ready for the market. A demonstration on a controlled surface, with prepared equipment and selected movement sequences is not proof that the G1 will cope in all conditions, outside the Unitree laboratory. We also do not know how the robot will behave among people, in the presence of sudden obstacles, a dirty floor, limited visibility or when working under load for a long time. But you can still feel a huge progress here that cannot be ignored.
