- Flagship G1 robot handles sorting and cleanup tasks without remote control
- Company ramps up AI spending ahead of Shanghai IPO review
Hangzhou-based robotics startup Unitree (宇树科技) has released a new embodied AI model capable of powering autonomous office tasks, as the humanoid robot maker steps up investment in AI amid scrutiny over its reliance on hardware sales.
The company on May 25 formally tested and launched its WVLA2.0 embodied large model alongside a demonstration of its G1 humanoid robot autonomously organizing a meeting room.
Without remote control, the robot was shown sorting, storing and arranging objects while operating under external disturbances.
According to Unitree, the upgraded model improves the robot’s voice interaction capabilities, allowing it to respond in real time to commands involving semantic understanding, spatial perception and trajectory planning. The system also supports continuous dialogue and more complex task execution.
The release follows another demonstration on May 19, when Unitree published a single-take video showing its G1 humanoid robot generating movements in real time from spoken instructions, marking a further step toward AI-driven speech-to-action control.
Dependent on hardware sales
The rapid rollout of embodied AI updates appears partly aimed at addressing criticism that Unitree has focused more on highly choreographed robot performances — including dancing and martial arts routines — than on foundational embodied AI development, with its business model seen by some investors as overly dependent on hardware sales.
The company has since accelerated spending on AI models and software research. Unitree said research and development spending rose 107.04% in 2025 from a year earlier.
Based on disclosed figures, that implies annual R&D investment of about 187 million yuan ($27.55 million), compared with roughly 90.46 million yuan in 2024.
Financial disclosures show Unitree generated about 1.7 billion yuan in revenue in 2025, with gross margin in its core business reaching 60.13%. More than 90% of its core components are developed and manufactured in-house, the company said.
Unitree expects revenue in the first half of 2026 to reach between 1.052 billion yuan and 1.128 billion yuan.
On the capital markets front, the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee is scheduled to screen Unitree’s application on June 1 for a STAR Market listing.
Approval would position the company to become China’s first publicly listed humanoid robotics company on the domestic A-share market.
