Unitree’s $5,900 Humanoid: What Does It Actually Do?
Unitree’s R1 Basic made headlines as a $5,900 humanoid robot — the lowest cost we’ve seen for a walking, balancing human-form machine.
But as usual there is a catch…. it has no hands! And once you add them, the price climbs to $16,000+. So what can it do?
This is a rough comparison of tasks from household use to nursing assistance-level care, to light office work across Unitree’s lineup and other top players like Tesla Optimus, Boston Dynamics Atlas, and Figure 02.
Home Tasks — What’s Real in 2025?
Modern droids can already:
✅ Walk, balance, and avoid furniture
✅ Pick up small objects (if equipped with grippers)
✅ Turn on lights, open doors
✅ Feed pets, water plants, vacuum
✅ Deliver light objects (~2–5kg)
✅ Respond to voice commands
✅ Act as home monitors or mobile speakers
🚫 But they can’t:
Fold laundry
Cook (safely)
Handle water, heat, or clutter well
Replace complex manual labor
Bottom line: If you're expecting Rosie from The Jetsons, you're early. If you want a mobile helper that can deliver, remind and patrol? It’s here.
Eldercare Tasks
Current robot capabilities
⚠️ Deliver food or medications – Yes, if items are preloaded (e.g., plated meals or meds in a cup). Most can't read medication labels.
✅ Call for help or 911 — With voice triggers or programmed actions.
⚠️ Help someone sit up — Risky. Lift capacity remains low.
⚠️ Reposition in bed — May be possible by ~2026–2027.
❌ Lift someone off the floor — Not yet feasible.
❌ Perform full bed-to-chair transfers — Unsafe with current single-bot lifting.
⚠️ Monitor vitals or mood — Some early trials, not reliable.
✅ Detect falls — Yes, using LiDAR and visual AI.
These robots are becoming useful companions and assistants, but they can’t yet take over nursing assistant level tasks like patient transfer or fall recovery. And this list is changing fast (improving roughly every 6 months).
Office Use
Humanoids are already deployed in controlled environments doing tasks like:
✅ Delivering items across offices or warehouses
✅ Acting as mobile concierges
✅ Escorting visitors or inventorying supplies
✅ Patrolling facilities for safety or security checks
✅ Providing remote presence for meetings
In many cases, a robot that can walk, lift 10kg, and listen is already useful — especially in places with high turnover or routine, repetitive work.
What’s Holding Them Back?
Lifting: Most can handle 20–30kg, but not humans
Hands: Some lack fingers or grip dexterity
Context awareness: They follow scripts, not situational logic
Battery: 1–2 hours per full charge
Voice understanding: Decent in demos, spotty in kitchens
Deadlift: Human vs Robot (home aide, nursing tasks)
When it comes to eldercare and home assistance, raw strength matters. Tasks like helping someone out of bed or recovering from a fall require substantial lifting power — something today’s robots still struggle with. Here’s how the current generation of humanoid robots compares to a trained human caregiver in terms of safe lifting capacity and cost.
Human CNA
Max Lift: ~90 kg
Can Lift Person?: ✅ Yes
Price: ~$35K/year
Tesla Optimus
Max Lift: ~20 kg
Can Lift Person?: ❌
Price: ~$30K
Unitree H1
Max Lift: ~30 kg
Can Lift Person?: ❌
Price: $90K
Boston Dynamics Atlas
Max Lift: ~50 kg
Can Lift Person?: ⚠️ Unstable
Price: Not for sale
Figure 02
Max Lift: ~20 kg
Can Lift Person?: ❌
Price: ~$50K+
Multi-bot solutions? Theoretically possible, but dangerous, complex, and unregulated.
Timeline to Full Assistive Capability
2025 – Deliver items, monitor vitals or presence, and offer basic reminders
2026–2027 – Assist with wheelchairs and enable safe bed repositioning
2028–2030 – Perform patient transfers and help with fall recovery
2030+ – Full CNA replacement with autonomous task handling
Head-to-Head: 4 Leading Bots
Here’s how the top four humanoid robots stack up across core specs like lift capacity, battery life, and real-world utility.
Battery Life
Unitree H1: ~2 hours
Atlas: ~1.5 hours
Tesla Optimus: ~2.5 hours
Figure 02: ~2.25 hours
Max Lifting Capacity
Unitree H1: ~30 kg
Atlas: 89 kg (body lift)
Tesla Optimus: ~68 kg
Figure 02: ~20 kg
Grip/Hands
Unitree H1: Optional hands
Atlas: Grippers
Tesla Optimus: 11 degrees of freedom (DOF) hands
Figure 02: 16 DOF hands
Mobility Style
Unitree H1: Agile and stable
Atlas: Extreme agility
Tesla Optimus: Energy-efficient
Figure 02: Balanced and quiet
Current Uses
Unitree H1: Research, demos
Atlas: Parkour R&D
Tesla Optimus: Tesla factories
Figure 02: Logistics pilots
Price Estimates
Unitree H1: $90K
Atlas: Not sold
Tesla Optimus: ~$25K–30K
Figure 02: ~$50K+
Warehouse Robots
As of mid-2025, Amazon is actively testing Digit, a bipedal humanoid robot developed by Agility Robotics, in its warehouses. Digit can walk, crouch, and navigate stairs while handling lightweight tasks like moving empty totes. This marks one of the first real-world trials of a walking humanoid in a logistics environment, but it's still a pilot—limited in scope and not yet deployed at scale.
The vast majority of Amazon’s warehouse automation still relies on non-humanoid systems like Proteus (a wheeled autonomous cart mover), Cardinal and Sparrow (robotic arms for sorting), and Vulcan (a new grip-sensitive robot). These bots are highly optimized for specific tasks and dominate current warehouse operations. For now, walking humanoids like Digit are experimental supplements, not replacements.
Other Players to Watch
Smaller teams are making serious moves too: Sanctuary AI (Phoenix), 1X Technologies (EVE), and Apptronik (Apollo) are focused on niche deployments like warehouses or human-robot interaction trials. These firms generally operate with less funding or narrower scope, but could spark key breakthroughs. Digit is notably being used by Amazon.
🧠 Final Take
If you want a robot that walks, talks, and delivers snacks — you can buy that now.
If you want one that can lift, reposition, and care for someone like a human CNA — you’re likely looking at 2028–2030.
The race is on. The first FDA-cleared robot to safely assist or lift humans will redefine both eldercare and robotics — and whoever wins that race will shape the future of work, healthcare, and home life.