What’s it like to unbox a Humanoid Robot at home?

Humanoid robots is one of the hottest categories in the tech industry right now, with the space becoming increasingly competitive.

Today, humanoid robots are being deployed in factories, but the future will see them make their way into our homes as costs come down and more families can afford them.

Given this is potentially just a couple of years away for some, it’s worth thinking through what the unboxing experience looks like if you were to buy a humanoid robot to help you with tasks around the home.

Given the price tag and limited abilities of humanoid robots, only the very wealthy are likely to play in this space today, but we have at least 1 high profile content creator that has already purchased and is using a humanoid robot at home.

Kai Cenat is one of the most popular streamers on the world, having amassed an audience of more than 16 Million followers on Twitch.

On a recent livestream, Cenat unboxed his new Unitree G1 humanoid robot which retails for US$70,000.

Unboxing the Unitree G1

Cenat starts by unboxing the Unitree G1 from a crate. Inside the crate was a shipping case which protects it during transport.

With the robot on the floor, he removed the protective wrapping and then consulted the instruction manual for next steps.

Charge the battery.

As with many consumer electronics, you need to first charge the device before its first use and it seems the robot is no different. To charge the battery, it gets connected to the charger, pretty straight forward right?

Kai quickly found an issue with the charger, in that it came with a European standard, rather than the American standard which led to a trip to the store to buy an adapter.

Having cured that issue, Cenat charges the battery and inserts it into the side of the torso. He continues reading the process to power up the robot which takes some more trial and error to get started.

To turn it on, the sequence required a short press + long press on the power button (I believe this is similar to the DJI startup sequence), then wait 1 minute for the robot to startup.

When powered on, the robot’s face illuminated to let you know bootup was underway. At this point, Cenat powered up the remote control (looks like an oversized Nintendo Switch).

Having cured that issue, Cenat charges the battery and inserts it into the side of the torso. He continues reading the process to power up the robot which takes some more trial and error to get started.

To turn it on, the sequence required a short press + long press on the power button (I believe this is similar to the DJI startup sequence), then wait 1 minute for the robot to startup.

When powered on, the robot’s face illuminated to let you know bootup was underway. At this point, Cenat powered up the remote control (looks like an oversized Nintendo Switch).

Some further trial and error played out, getting the controller to connect to the robot.

Cenat then had to read the manual, then press a key combination to get the robot to enter it initial state of standing up.

Unfortunately this didn’t go well.. after the initial excitement of seeing the first signs of life from the robot, it proceeded to rotate it’s torsa 180 degrees, then fall directly backwards on to the floor.

At this point, I’d be concerned that my $70,000 robot just damaged itself, although the fall was on to carpet, rather than a hard surface.

They decided to try and reset the robot, seat it in the chair and try again. This time, success! The robot stood up and was able to stand on its own.

With the humanoid robot standing, it was time to feed it some more commands to try and have it actually do something useful.

Cenat tried the controller input for waving, which the robot did, then promptly fell over backwards.

At this point you’re probably thinking, what did I just spend $70,000 on and that this does not work at all like the promo videos.

Again they reset G1 on the chair and attempted to have him stand up. This again failed in a spectacular way, shooting off the chair backwards and to the right heading straight for another dirt nap, but fortunate to be caught by a quick reacting friend.

“That was one of the scariest moments of my life.”

This really isn’t the out of box experience you want at home for an expensive robot, and perhaps speaks to how early we are from the at-home experience being viable.

Finally, after a couple of hours from the time it was unboxed, the robot took its first step. It’s also important to callout that this was due to a controller input, not a result of the robot being given a task and going to execute it autonomously, nor was it following a voice command.

At this point, you have yourself a very expensive RC car, but instead of wheels and a chassis to move around, you have a 35kg humanoid robot.

Humans and robots

It took just minutes before the humans decided to push the limits of what’s possible. What started with a gentle push to test it’s stability control (as shown in the promo videos), quickly became a full on kick that seen the robot go flying to the ground.

The velocity clearly exceeded what the robot was capable of counteracting, but at a human level, this was certainly an interesting exchange to see how people may treat robots where there are no consequences like pain or feelings (perhaps financial ones if you break it).

From here we seen a couple of instances of the robot shaking rapidly before falling. It’s not clear if this is a software bug that could be fixed with an update or if this is some kind of limitation.

As the video continued, we seen more falls, more confusion about how to control it, this is definitely not intuitive and certainly not something that looks safe around kids and pets.

Skills and Abilities Out of the Box

The Unitree G1 lists impressive capabilities, although what we seen from Cenat’s experience was very rudimentary.

Movement: With 41 degrees of freedom, the robot can perform complex movements, including walking, running, and even playing sports like football, thanks to its high-speed synchronous motors and industrial-grade bearings.

Manipulation: Equipped with five-fingered hands, it can handle objects with precision, lifting up to 6.6 lbs per arm.

Sensing: It features a depth camera and 3D LiDAR for environmental interaction, ensuring it can navigate and respond to its surroundings effectively.

Connectivity: The robot supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6, allowing for smooth operation and potential remote control.

New Capabilities and Upgrades

The Unitree G1 is not static in its abilities. It’s designed for future over-the-air updates, which could enhance its autonomy, perhaps even enabling more complex tasks without human intervention.

For humanoid robots to be useful at home, owners have to have the ability to customize and expand the robot’s functions. In an ideal scenario, it could go and get items (food etc) from another room and bring it to you, particularly useful in environments where people have mobility issues.

Voice interaction is also a must, enabling it to provide information and companionship to those who may have lost loved ones.

Overall

While humanoid robots are definitely coming, as it stands today, the Unitree G1 robot does not look like something any regular consumer needs in their home.