A Chinese bipedal robot has set a new world speed record for a humanoid robot – and it can maintain its balance when knocked off course. The newest version of Unitree’s H1 robot, called Evolution V3.0, stands at just over 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs less than 110 pounds (50 kilograms).
In a video released on March 1, the H1 is seen walking at its maximum speed of 7.4 miles per hour (3.3 meters per second) – an impressive feat for a bipedal robot. However, the company claims that it has the potential to reach a speed of 11 mph (5 m/s).
In a previous video released in August 2023, an engineer attempts to knock the robot over by kicking it forcefully. But the H1 easily recovers, adjusting its footing to recenter its weight just like a human would thanks to its three degrees of freedom in the hips and one each in the knees and ankles.
The latest video also showcases the H1’s ability to climb stairs with ease, walking up, turning, and climbing back down forwards as well as navigating stairs backwards and sideways.
With its sensor array located on top of its trunk, which resembles an extremely small head with sensors and cameras attached along its upper surface, the H1 has an uncanny valley appearance. Dressed in a Unitree sweatshirt and leg coverings that look like jogging pants, the H1 is truly a humanoid robot.
Despite Agility Robotics’ Cassie robot managing to run a 100-meter sprint in 24.73 seconds at 9 mph (4 m/s), Unitree claims the world record for the H1. However, Cassie is little more than a pair of legs and a small drive module, making it not fully humanoid like the H1 or other machines such as the Optimus Gen-2 or Figure 01 robots. By comparison, Boston Dynamics’ Big Dog travels at around 1.7 m/s.
The 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. Its hip joints provide a maximum torque of 360 newton-metre (Nm), allowing it to swing its legs back and forth faster.
As Unitree’s promotional video states, the company aims to lead a new industrial revolution by working alongside robots.
