Hacker News

62 points by MehrdadKhnzd 5 hours ago | 27 comments

This is way more of what I thought robotics companies should be working on over their dumb 4 legged dog like robots. Wheels were invented for a reason and we are awfully good at moving things around on them at speed. Combining multiple attributes into a single form will ultimately prove to be the winning formula.

Just like in a year or two you will start to see more appendages than just two arms on humanoids.

schobi 48 minutes ago

I think this is a clever idea.

A hub motor for each leg adds some weight, but you get a rolling mode on flat terrain with great range.

At the same time you keep obstacle climbing mode with stationary wheels, and can use the leg actuators as shock absorbers and obstacle avoidance on a bumpy path. Best of both worlds, with a new software challenge.

altruios 37 minutes ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA8WuXDXfcI

relevant link.

I remember watching this video with the takeaway: if you want it secure, build it yourself... which is what I am currently doing.

arjie 3 hours ago

They never give you dev access without paying like 10x the price.

syntaxing 3 hours ago

Interesting, you can’t use their SDK or you can’t load whatever you want on it?

arjie 2 hours ago

E.g. Unitree R1 has attractive low price but missing the “secondary development” pack (access to Jetson Orin and all the firmware stuff to let you run custom software). It’s all just their software. Useless tool. Click button and it dances. Then what.

numpad0 2 hours ago

I've seen a similar setup with a different Chinese cutting edge product. App access is free, ssh is open, but API keys and the ssh password is priced like a cheap car.

orbital-decay 2 hours ago

I'd love to see an ebike-like vehicle in this spirit. Meant to be ridden, self-balancing, and all-terrain capable.

bijowo1676 2 hours ago

how is this robot seems to have perfect traction ?

its either rolls perfectly without traction or walks uphill with perfect traction ?

is it AI generated video or did they make some groundbreaking success ?

or is it just promo video, showing future potential, not yet developed capabilities ?

doug_durham 55 minutes ago

It doesn't have perfect traction. It stumbles in the videos. This is consistent with other wheeled robots that have come out the last few years.

jareklupinski 32 minutes ago

when can i hop on its back and ride it like an all-terrain ultra-longboard?

ThirdShift_RnD 3 hours ago

This thing reminds me of something out of Death stranding, Hideo Kojima was way ahead of his time

SilverElfin 5 hours ago

Impressive … and scary. Why is it that this company is moving so fast when others like Boston Dynamics don’t seem to have made much progress?

saturn8601 2 hours ago

Chinese work ethic driven by overproduction of STEM majors leading to 25% youth unemployment...also they probably stole a lot of the fundamental stuff that was super hard to produce but easy to copy and build on top of.

On the other side: Years of VC focusing on the next great app to make you some cooked eggs instead of investing in companies operating in the physical world.

bijowo1676 2 minutes ago

how could they steal something that western companies dont even have yet?

numpad0 2 hours ago

There's no use for these robots(even militarily). It's very high tech, but that's it.

wffurr 4 hours ago

You are assuming this thing is real and not just a web page.

fooker 3 hours ago

Not that you have much reason to believe a stranger on the internet, but I have seen this in person.

Not doing acrobatics like the marketing video of course, just doing mundane things like going from point A to point B.

rlt 4 hours ago

Unitree is a huge well known company. You think they'd fake this?

solarkraft 4 hours ago

The demo images look AI generated, so I can understand the impression that this is vaporware. The demo videos look very real to me however.

serf 3 hours ago

is using a prototype firmware or hardware platform faking it when you're showing exclusive prototype capabilities and trying to pass them off as reproducible by the production unit?

unitree has done this consistently.

fragmede 2 hours ago

What does unitree G1 do as a demo that it can't do once you bought one?

cyanydeez 4 hours ago

they're a chinese company and this is a VC funded western company; so that's half the answer.

The other half is yes, of course, any company will fake it till they make it.

But Unitree is definitely making robots.

lostmsu 4 hours ago

What's the price?

IshKebab 2 hours ago

Based on the price of their other robots, probably $5-10k.

yigalirani 4 hours ago

imagine that a an atv

ThirdShift_RnD 3 hours ago

Motorized mule essentially, but one that clears terrain like a mountain goat.