Tag Archives: Unitree

Unitree launches humanoid robot that’s faster than Usain Bolt, and spot jumps higher than any athlete

Posted on by

If you also think a robot Olympics is on the verge of happening anytime soon. You could just be right. If and when that happens, Unitree’s “Superman” would probably break American swimmer Michael Phelps’ record for the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

To give us a glimpse of that future, China’s Unitree – which recently became the first general-purpose robotics company to debut on Shanghai’s stock exchange – unveiled a humanoid robot on August 17, which it says “can outrun and outjump top human athletes.”

Designer: Unitree

In the demo video doing rounds on the internet, the Unitree Superman (as the humanoid robot is called) can be seen pulling off a standing high jump of 2 meters. It also makes a dash at the speed of 12.66 meters per second, which is a tad faster than the 12.4 m/s speed that Usain Bolt achieved when he completed the world-record-setting 100 m run in only 9.58 seconds. This calculation would stand true if the Unitree humanoid runs 100 meters at the same speed that it has clocked in its demo dash.

With the kind of feat the Chinese Superman has pulled off, it has conveniently surpassed human ability by a margin. With this standing high jump and running speed, it has done what no human has ever achieved. And considering the progress companies like Unitree are making on robots in the labs, gyms, and training grounds, we are going to fall behind, and robots will throw us on the sidelines to conduct their own Olympics Games soon.

Hangzhou-based Unitree has been ahead of most robotic companies in China. In fact, it is considered the most influential one, with backing from companies including Tencent, DeepSeek, and Alibaba. Its fanfare can be gauged from the unprecedented IPO it made. The company’s stock, according to Bloomberg, skyrocketed by 629% to a $66 billion valuation on its first day of trading on August 19.

The IPO from the company, which already has a robot dog, humanoid kung fu fighter, and a service robot on the market, has left all financial pundits bewildered. And the new achievement of the Superman humanoid has only substantiated investors’ faith.

According to Unitree, the jumping and speeding robot, which has 0.85-meter-long legs, is a work in progress and is likely to feature improvements to its capabilities in the coming months. Until that news comes in, you can check out some of the more extraordinary Unitree robots, like the transforming Mecha robot or this one that can even do cartwheels.

The post Unitree launches humanoid robot that’s faster than Usain Bolt, and spot jumps higher than any athlete first appeared on Yanko Design.

Unitree’s transforming mecha robot is the closest thing yet to owning a real Transformer

Posted on by

Flying solo tied to a jetpack is a dream we have been savoring for quite some time now. And since movies like the Transformers, the idea of transforming Autobots has been another craze humanity is chasing for various applications. In China, robotics company Unitree has made the idea of humans piloting transforming ‘mecha’ robots a reality. The first glimpse of this is making rounds on the internet and has had netizens hailing this engineering breakthrough, which makes science fiction a reality.

Meet the Unitree GD01, the world’s first ‘production-ready manned mecha built for industrial use. It measures roughly 2.7 meters tall and weighs over 500 kg. The GD01 is the successor to Unitree robots such as the dog companion, but Unitree does not reveal many details about the robot.

Designer: Unitree

What we have as the source is a video doing the rounds on the internet, which shows how the GD01 can transform from a two-legged humanoid into a four-legged crawler. The machine with human-like legs and arms with hands is remotely controlled, but can also accommodate a person in its torso, who can control the transforming humanoid in the style of a mecha. Mecha is different from an autonomous robot as they are piloted from a cockpit inside. They have been popularized in Japanese anime, but it’s in China that they’re getting a realization for real-world applications.

The durable alloy robot is designed to transport a person and to be used in high-risk and harsh environments. It can walk like a humanoid robot in its red and gray avatar. The demonstration video shows Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, climbing into the torso-mounted cockpit of the GD01 mecha to maneuver it. We can also see the robot knocking down a brick wall with its hand before transitioning into a four-legged robot.

According to initial information, the Unitree Robotics GD01 will start at $650,000, which easily makes it the most expensive humanoid in the competition. For comparison, the previous Unitree models like R1 only cost about $6,000. Of course, the price tag is owing to the functionality of the GD01, which can be used for various applications, “mainly aimed at changing the way we work,” the company notes.

In the video, we can see the GD01 walking on flat surfaces, but it can be assumed that it will be able to maneuver different terrains in the near future. China and Unitree are leading the way in the production of capable humanoids, which prompts us to make such assumptions. According to a report from research firm Omdia, China accounts for nearly 90 percent of global humanoid sales in 2025.’ Amid those sales, it is worth noting that Unitree alone has shipped upward of 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, the South China Morning Post reports.

 

The post Unitree’s transforming mecha robot is the closest thing yet to owning a real Transformer first appeared on Yanko Design.