Safety
A video showed an H1 hanging from a crane during a test, thrashing about and making the crane crash, narrowly missing nearby technicians. The person handling it said the robot's whole-body control software was running while its feet were off the ground.
A crash, recall, injury or investigation
What the source says
“A viral video showing a Unitree H1 humanoid robot violently thrashing mid-test”
What it means
H1 and H2, from Unitree Robotics, is at stage 4 of 5 on our ladder: paying customers. Safety events don't move a stage on their own, but they stay on the robot's record.
Human help: The maker hasn't said whether people help it remotely.
More on H1 and H2
- Unitree's shares started trading on Shanghai's STAR Market. It raised about $905 million.
- The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) barred new models of foreign-made advanced robots from getting the approval needed to be sold in the US, unless exempted. Unitree said its existing robots already have FCC approval.
- Unitree showed the H2, the next version after the H1, in a promotional video. It is about 180 cm tall and weighs about 70 kg (154 lb).
- Security researchers found a flaw in the Bluetooth setup of several Unitree robots, including the H1, that could let a nearby attacker take control and spread to other Unitree robots. Unitree later said most fixes were done.
- Unitree sold 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, across all its humanoid models, about a third of humanoid sales worldwide. Most went to research and education buyers.
- The H1 had a list price of $90,000 for the basic version.