Unitree G1+: What $15,000 Buys in a 1.34 m Humanoid With a Moving Neck

The Unitree G1+ is a 1.34 m, roughly 35 kg humanoid that Unitree lists at US $15K, excluding tax and shipping, as of 12 October 2026. Its standout change is a 2-DoF neck, which brings the robot to 25 degrees of freedom. Every figure below is company-stated, and no independent test of the G1+ has been published.

What is the Unitree G1+?

The G1+ is a revised version of Unitree's G1 humanoid, aimed at buyers who want a small, relatively cheap bipedal robot. Humanoids Daily reported the launch on 14 September 2026 and calls it a hardware revision. Unitree's page frames it as six major upgrades across motion performance, perception and interaction, and intelligent experience.

In plain terms: it is the same size of robot as before, but its head can now look around, its shoulders and waist are stronger, and it can see and hear better.

There are two versions. The base G1+ is the $15K model. The G1+ EDU is priced "Contact sales" and is built for developers, with room for dexterous hands and a compute module.

What is Unitree's thesis?

Unitree's bet is that a humanoid can be sold at a relatively low price while still improving. The company says the G1+ "keeps G1's cost-effectiveness" while improving motion, perception and intelligence. The page also warns that the humanoid industry is at an early stage and that some sample functions are still in development.

That is a hardware-first strategy: ship a capable body at volume, and let software from Unitree, researchers and customers catch up.

How is Unitree funded?

Unitree is a listed company. It priced its Shanghai STAR Market IPO at CNY 150.80 per share (USD 22.35) on 7 August 2026, valuing it at about CNY 61 billion (USD 9 billion) and selling 40.4 million shares, or 10% of equity. Caixin confirmed the same price and valuation, and Humanoids Daily gives the listing date as 19 August 2026.

According to Yicai, earlier backers include Meituan (9.7% with affiliates, the largest external institutional stake), Alibaba, Ant Group, Tencent, ByteDance, DeepSeek, HongShan and Matrix Partners China. Yicai also lists planned uses of proceeds:

Share prices move, and this article does not track them.

What are the Unitree G1+ specifications?

The table below is taken from Unitree's G1+ page. All values are company-stated. Unitree notes parameters may vary by scenario and configuration.

Unitree adds that arm load "varies greatly" with arm extension posture. TOPS for the base CPU, joint torque values in N·m for the G1+, and the model behind its behaviour are not published.

How does the Unitree G1+ work?

Unitree's page describes the following changes, all company-stated.

Neck. Two extra degrees of freedom: pitch from -25° to 36° and yaw of ±110°. The robot can turn its head toward a sound or person without turning its body.

Motors. Unitree says peak torque is up 110% at the shoulder and waist motors and 43% at the arm motors. At the same torque, heating is down 72% (shoulder and waist), 30% (arm) and 28% (thigh). The joints use low-inertia, high-speed inner-rotor permanent magnet synchronous motors with industrial-grade crossed roller bearings.

Vision. A binocular camera with a 60 mm baseline and 2 MP resolution (field of view H110° / V80° / D125°) plus a wide-angle monocular camera at 1920 x 1080 and 30 fps (H117° / V67°). A chest wide-angle camera and 3D laser radar are also listed.

Touch and audio. A touch sensor in the head lets a light touch start a conversation or trigger motions. The six microphones (four front, two rear) support sound-source localisation, and an external wireless microphone can be added.

Power. The robot can run on external power, so it can work for long periods while plugged in.

Unitree does not describe the AI model behind the robot's behaviour or its training data on this page. The conversation and gesture features are described only as sample functions, some of which the company says are still in development.

What is new compared with the original G1?

The G1+ adds the neck and 2 DoF, stronger shoulder, waist and arm motors, better cameras and microphones, and about 1 kg more arm load. Price rises by US $1,500. The comparison uses Unitree's G1 page, which lists the G1 from US $13.5K.

Humanoids Daily puts the gap at US $1,500, roughly 11%, against the current G1 listing rather than the original launch price. It also reports Chinese prices of 95,000 yuan including tax for the G1+ and 85,000 yuan for the G1, on a different tax basis from the dollar listings.

How does the Unitree G1+ compare with similar humanoids?

Among small, low-cost humanoids, the G1+ is taller than Unitree's G1 and R1 and has a higher arm load than both. The table uses manufacturer figures where available.

Unitree G1+ versus G1. Same body, stronger joints and a head that moves. The upgrade matters most to buyers who want better perception without paying EDU prices.

Unitree R1. Unitree's page lists R1 AIR at $4,900 and R1 at $5,900 (tax and shipping excluded). The R1 is shorter and lighter, carries about 2 kg per arm and lasts about 1 hour, but lists 26 DoF including a 2-DoF waist and 2-DoF head. It trades size and runtime for price.

EngineAI PM01. EngineAI says the PM01 is 1.38 m tall, weighs about 40 kg and has 24 DoF, with 320° waist rotation and x86 plus NVIDIA Jetson Orin compute. Those figures date from December 2024 and are company-stated. The source gives no PM01 price, so a price comparison is not possible.

Where will people actually use this?

The likely buyers are people who work on robots rather than people who want a household helper. Plausible uses, based on the hardware listed:

1. University and lab research. The EDU adds secondary development, compute modules and dexterous hands.
2. Human-robot interaction demos. The moving neck, touch sensor and microphone array suit reception, exhibition and education settings.
3. Teleoperation and data collection. Wide-angle and binocular vision give an operator a better view than a fixed head. Whether the base model's software supports this is not stated.
4. Teaching and robotics clubs. A standing height of 1.34 m and a roughly 35 kg weight make it a lab-bench robot, not a household one.

Unitree describes the G1+ as a civilian product and asks users to keep a safe distance from it.

What are the limitations?

• Runtime is unchanged. About 2 hours on battery. External power helps only while the robot is connected.
• Torque is not lift. Humanoids Daily notes that higher peak torque is not a matching increase in what the whole robot can carry. Unitree's own arm load figure rises from about 2 kg to about 3 kg.
• No hands on the base model. Hand DoF is blank for the base G1+.
• Closed to developers. Secondary development is not listed for the base G1+, and no high-compute module is offered.
• Short warranty. 8 months for the base model.
• No independent testing. Every number here is from Unitree or relayed from it.

Should you buy it or wait?

If you need a head that moves and better microphones on a research or demo robot, the G1+ is a modest step up for US $1,500 over the G1. If you need to write your own software, budget for the EDU, whose price is not published. If you want a first humanoid for the lowest cost, the R1 at $5,900 is a different class of robot with a shorter runtime.

For most households, this is not a purchase: Unitree itself urges individual buyers to understand the limits of today's humanoids. Wait for independent torque, payload and runtime tests before paying for the upgrade on the strength of the percentages alone.

What's still unclear?

• Independent confirmation. No third party has measured the 110% shoulder and waist torque gain, the 43% arm torque gain or the heat reductions.
• Software. Unitree does not say what model runs the touch-triggered conversation or which motions the touch sensor triggers.
• EDU price. Listed only as "Contact sales".
• Launch date. Unitree's page carries no date; the 14 September 2026 date comes from Humanoids Daily.
• Price basis. The dollar price excludes tax and shipping, and the 95,000 yuan figure uses a different tax basis, so the two cannot be converted directly.
• Weakest point of the pitch. Several headline gains are percentages of peak values, while the figures buyers feel day to day (2 hours of runtime, 3 kg of arm load) moved little.