Unitree has quietly refreshed its flagship G1 humanoid into the G1+, the mid-generation update it dropped in China around September 14, 2026. The refresh keeps the same 1.34-metre, ~35 kg form factor as the original G1 but adds a two-degree-of-freedom neck (±110° yaw, -25° to +36° pitch), 110% more peak torque at the shoulder and waist and 43% more arm torque — while running the motors dramatically cooler.
What Actually Changed
The headline number is the price: ¥95,000 in mainland China, roughly $14,000, versus $13,500 for the original G1. For that extra $500 (plus tax and shipping) buyers get an articulated head — an object of surprisingly fierce industry envy, because a robot that can look up or sideways without pivoting its torso doesn't look uncanny in the way a rigid neck does. It also opens up genuinely useful behaviours like tracking a hand offering an object, following a bimanual manipulation with the on-board binocular camera and mimicking human head gestures on stage.
Cooler Motors, Longer Runs
Motor thermal was the G1's most-complained-about limit. Unitree says the G1+ shoulder and waist motors run at 72% less peak heat than the original, arm motors 30% cooler and leg motors 28% cooler — while lifting shoulder torque by 110% and arm torque by 43%. That is a meaningful step change for factory and warehouse pilot deployments where the original G1 tended to throttle after 20-30 minutes of continuous manipulation. The 2-hour battery envelope is unchanged and the platform still supports the hot-swap battery mule.
Sensors And Compute
The G1+ carries binocular vision, a wide-angle chest camera, an abdomen-mounted 3D LiDAR, head touch sensing, a six-mic array with active noise cancellation and dual 10W speakers. The standard build runs 25 degrees of freedom; the EDU version scales to 70 DOF, positioning it directly against Fourier's GR-1 and Kepler's K2 in the university research market.
Where It Fits In A Very Loud Quarter
The G1+ lands the same week Reward AI unveiled its OM-1 human-data-only foundation model, Agility unveiled Digit 5, and Hyundai signalled Boston Dynamics' IPO would slip past 2027. It also comes as investors are still processing ENCOS's Series B for humanoid joint modules and Unitree's own blockbuster IPO — a signal that the $14K price band is where volumes will actually be won.
Reporting based on coverage from Humanoids Daily, Gagadget, TechRadar and Unitree.