Unitree has officially launched the G1+ humanoid robot, delivering a sweeping set of hardware upgrades to its popular budget-friendly bipedal platform. Rather than introducing it as an expensive high-end variant, Unitree is positioning the G1+ as its new standard, priced aggressively at $15,000 for international researchers.
The original Unitree G1 disrupted academic robotics earlier this year by offering dynamic bipedal walking and 35 degrees of freedom for $16,000. The updated G1+ focuses on core structural and sensory improvements that address initial hardware limits without inflating the overall cost.
A 2-degree-of-freedom articulating neck
The most visible mechanical revision is the integration of an active 2-degree-of-freedom (DoF) neck. The original G1 featured a fixed head assembly, forcing the robot to pivot its entire torso to survey its immediate surroundings.
The G1+ can now tilt its head assembly from -25° to +36° and pan horizontally by ±110°. This mechanical freedom allows the robot to track its hands during delicate manipulation tasks or scan nearby work surfaces without altering its foot stance, noticeably boosting operational stability.
Substantial joint torque upgrades
Unitree has systematically overhauled the upper-body drivetrain. The shoulder and waist joints receive a massive 110% increase in peak torque, while arm actuators gain approximately 43% more output.
This extra mechanical headroom translates directly into real-world utility: arm payload capacity increases to 3 kg per arm. While not built for heavy factory palletizing (a role tailored for platforms like the Unitree H1), it makes the G1+ far more capable for laboratory benchmarks and teleoperation trials.
These motor upgrades are backed by redesigned thermal dissipation channels. Enhanced heat sinking across stator windings allows the robot to sustain continuous work cycles without triggering thermal throttling safeguards.
Revamped perception suite and audio array
The perception stack has also received a comprehensive update. While the earlier model relied on a single front depth sensor and 3D LiDAR, the G1+ integrates a binocular stereo camera alongside a chest-mounted wide-angle lens, operating in tandem with the LiDAR turret.
This sensory arrangement supplies cleaner depth cues to the UnifoLM reinforcement learning pipeline, particularly during close-quarters reaching motions. For auditory human-robot interaction, the microphone array was expanded from four to six elements, and speaker output was doubled (2 × 10W) for clearer voice feedback in industrial settings.
Pricing and commercial availability
Despite the substantial hardware refinements, Unitree maintains an aggressive pricing stance. The base G1+ is priced at RMB 95,000 in domestic markets and listed at $15,000 for global export, with an optional EDU package providing five-fingered dexterous hands and low-level control interfaces.