Chinese scientists build world's fastest humanoid robot — but it's not going to win any sprints just yet
A Chinese bipedal robot has set a new world speed record for a humanoid robot — and can maintain its balance when knocked off course.
The newest version of Unitree's H1 robot, called "Evolution V3.0", is a bipedal robot that stands a little over 5 foot 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs less than 110 pounds (50 kilograms).
In a video released March 1, the H1 is seen walking at its maximum speed of 7.4 miles per hour (3.3 meters per second) — its most arresting feature — although the company claimed it can potentially reach a speed of 11 mph (5 m/s).
In a previous video, released in August 2023, a Unitree engineer attempts to tip the robot over by kicking it forcefully. But the H1 recovers with ease, adjusting its footing to recenter its weight like a person would thanks to three degrees of freedom in the hips and one each in the knees and ankles.
In the new video, it can also climb a staircase with aplomb, walking up, turning and climbing back down forwards, as well as navigating a set of steps backward and sideways.
Looking like an extremely careful (or tipsy) human being, H1's sensor array, on top of its trunk, comprises a small ring with sensors and cameras affixed along its upper surface, resembling an extremely small head. Dressed in a Unitree sweatshirt and leg coverings that look like jogging pants, the entire combination places H1 firmly into the uncanny valley.
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Unitree claimed the world record for H1 despite Agility Robotics' Cassie robot managing to run a 100-meter sprint in 24.73 seconds — at 9 mph (4 m/s).
But Cassie is little more than a pair of legs and a small drive module, so it cannot be considered fully humanoid like the H1 robot, or other machines like the Optimus Gen-2 or Figure 01 robots. By contrast, Boston Dynamics' Big Dog travels at around 1.7 m/s.
H1 navigates using 3D LIDAR technology to constantly map its surroundings in 360 degrees while using a front-facing visual depth camera to judge distances. The joints that make up the hip or pelvis area — to which its legs are fixed — provide a maximum torque of 360 newton-metre (Nm), which gives the system the means to swing its legs back and forth faster. That’s compared to a train, which has around 40,000Nm, and GMC’s Hummer EV, which has a little over 15,000Nm.
As Unitree's promotional video says, the company wants to get together with robots to win “a new industrial revolution”.