- Unitree launches App Store Robot
- This may be a first in the industry
- The beta offers a handful of downloadable routines for the G1
Like so many technologies before them, modern robots are looking for that killer app, the one thing they could do that would make them so compelling that everyone would want one. But to find that app, you need a robot app store, or at least that’s the apparent idea behind Unitree’s launch of the App Store for its robots.
To be clear, it’s not exactly like, say, an iPhone App Store. The routines that Unitree customers can download aren’t as varied as, say, an app that can help you budget or one that can help you calm down with daily aphorisms. Instead, Unitree’s App Store is primarily a repository of templates or routines for robot tasks and movements.
Launched this week in beta, the Unitree App Store only offers a few collections, including Funny Actions, Twist Dance and Bruce Lee. As you might have guessed, the latter will allow your $13,500 G1 humanoid to “reproduce Bruce Lee’s classic martial arts moves.” Funny Actions models allow the G1 to “unleash its wildness”.
Unitree’s programming code is open source, meaning owners can write motion and routine code for their own robots, and the App Store will provide a place for them to download it. It’s unclear whether Unitree will review the software in a manner similar to what Apple does with its App Store.
There are other questions and limitations. For now, most of the options in the app only apply to the G1 model. There is also no clear monetization plan for Unitree or guest developers. In a brief announcement video on YouTube, Unitree writes: “Outstanding developers will receive awards. » This could be money or discounts on future robots, like the new wild-looking H2 that resembles a ballet dancer.
Look on it
Waiting for the iPhone of robots
Unitree’s approach to robotics development and awareness is decidedly different from most of its competitors. Unlike 1X and Figure AI, which focus on somewhat linear development, limited access, and high pricing, Unitree offers a growing range of robot designs (humanoid and quadruped) and pricing options.
The Chinese company also seems less focused on development and innovation than, say, Boston Dynamics, which is perfecting its all-electric Atlas that will likely end up in factories long before reaching homes.
Unitree, on the other hand, appears to have sold a number of smaller G1s to at least well-heeled influencers who filmed the robots in compromising situations (I’ll never forget seeing a G1 run into a full-length mirror).
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The App Store appears to be an extension of this strategy. Instead of limiting development, Unitree has opened the doors and encourages developers to share. Assuming that developers can rely on each other’s open source code, the existence of a “robot app store” could help accelerate robot development and innovation.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that none of Unitree’s robots are considered the “iPhone of robots.” I would say that such a humanoid robot does not yet exist. People may be excited about 1X’s Neo Beta, but they won’t be as excited when they’ve dropped $20,000 to have it slowly move forward and be teleoperated throughout their home. Figure 03, which does not contain a timeline of housing availability, could suffer a similar fate.
Unitree’s robots, which mostly perform preset routines and appear to have little autonomy or ability to deal with unexpected events, aren’t iPhone-quality either, even though they cost just under $20,000.
For now, we can celebrate the creation of the first Robot App Store. It won’t be the last, but it and many more to come will be a long wait for the perfect marriage between an affordable humanoid robot and that ever-desired “killer app.”
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