Four Unitree G1 robots, each controlled remotely by human operators, squared off in a tournament-style brawl dubbed “Unitree Iron Fist King: Awakening!” The format was straightforward: three two-minute rounds, with points scored for strikes—one for a hand hit, three for a leg strike. Knockdowns or failure to recover within eight seconds carried penalties. The event unfolded in Hangzhou, near Unitree’s shiny new 10,000-square-meter factory, and it was as much a test of tech as it was a crowd-pleaser.
In the opening bout, “AI Strategist,” operated by Lu Xin, faced “Silk Artisan,” piloted by Jiao Tianqi. AI Strategist hit hard from the start, dishing out pinpoint strikes with uncanny human-like precision, and by round three, it sealed a crushing knockout against Silk Artisan. In the next bout, “Armored Mulan” faced “Energy Guardian,” who landed a fierce first-round knockdown, but Armored Mulan’s stumble in the final round let Energy Guardian snatch the victory. The championship clash saw AI Strategist back in the ring, pummeling Energy Guardian with three straight knockouts to claim the title. “The robots’ ability to predict opponents’ moves and adjust in real-time is a leap forward,” said Zhou Di, a robotics expert with the China Computer Federation, speaking to Yicai Global.
- 82 Voice Command Words
- Aluminum alloy frame structures and gunmetal gray matte finish
- Free-walking, lightweight and portable
These G1s, standing 4.3 feet tall (1.3 meters) and weighing 77 pounds (35 kilograms), moved with startling agility. With 23 degrees of freedom and a knee joint torque of 90N·m, they threw hooks, side kicks, and even pulled off quick recoveries after being floored. Unitree’s promotional videos had teased this for weeks, showing G1s sparring with humans and each other, but seeing it live was something else—clunky yet fluid, mechanical yet oddly charismatic.
The match was a real-world stress test for the G1’s hardware and software. “Combat robots need to predict opponents’ intentions in rapidly changing environments, adjust their stances, and make split-second decisions,” Zhou Di explained. Each strike and evade stretched the G1’s sensors, motors, and algorithms to the max, revealing flaws like tiny reaction-time lags or wobbles after taking a hit.
The G1 itself is a marvel of compact engineering. Designed for researchers and hobbyists, it’s more affordable than Unitree’s flagship H1 model, which stands nearly 6 feet tall and costs $90,000-$130,000. The G1 folds down small enough for one person to carry and can hit speeds of 2 meters per second. Its ability to perform complex moves—like a kip-up or side flip, as shown in earlier demos—relies on the LAFAN1 motion capture dataset, which maps human-like movements to robotic joints.
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