Unitree’s H2 Humanoid Robot Steps Forward and Into the Limelight

Unitree Robotics – based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou – has just unveiled their latest creation, the H2 humanoid robot. This impressive looking machine is a respectable 180 centimeters tall, 70 kilos in weight and looks as if it could handle anything you throw at it. To be honest, its design is a nice blend of practicality and sportiness without going off the rails.

The H2 moves with surprisingly little fuss as it glides across the floor shifting seamlessly from one tempo to another. They’ve also got some pretty impressive sequences going on, and in comparison to the H1 from last year, the H2 has a bit less mass to its frame, which lends itself to much quicker footwork. From the footage that Unitree have released so far, it looks like it’s got all the torque it needs – that’s 360 Newton-meters per joint, just to give you an idea – to lift 15 kilos overhead or squat down for a long period without toppling.

A swappable power pack, roughly the same size as the H1’s (864 watt-hours to be precise), is tucked away in the back, and the brain – Intel Core i7 processors – is doing all the heavy lifting, processing data from depth cameras and LiDAR sensors to provide an accurate 360-degree view of the space. And then there are those eyes… they’re a mix of a RealSense D435i and a Livox MID-360, and they keep a close check on impediments as close as 10 cm away, allowing the H2 to either swerve around them or pause temporarily if you drop something on the floor. They’ve used their own M107 motors, which are pretty low on inertia, making for a speedier and quieter run. Even on uneven ground the balance algorithms keep the H2 upright, drawing on the reinforcement learning datasets to get it back on its feet (literally) after a little nudge or slip.



It can fold clothes with its fingers that grip without squishing the fabric and bring items from the entryway to the counter while its sensors scan the shelves to determine where they should go. Factories, in particular, are expecting a large payout; a demonstration showed it weaving wires into panels, its arms stretching all the way to full length as the spine twists into all sorts of awkward angles. To be honest, the only time it isn’t doing repetitive activities like sorting bins or inspecting production lines is when it’s performing martial arts movements; aside from that, it’s built for a wide range of repetitive jobs, which are then logged by onboard software that learns new things each time it performs them.


China’s robot scene is just getting started, and Unitree is close on the heels of the major players. Boston Dynamics’ Atlas is flipping and hurdling around in labs, but Unitree is going for a cheaper pricing point – H1s were approximately $90,000, and we’ve heard rumors that the H2 will be around the same for large orders. With government grants such as the MIIT guidelines for 2023 flooding the market with funds to develop prototypes into real production lines, the area is truly opening up. Wang’s vision for the future is that by 2030, there will be thousands of robot fleets in warehouses, working shifts that never tire – things that humans take for granted yet must cope with in their own professions.