- Unitree launches Robot App Store
- It may be a first in the industry.
- The beta version has a handful of downloadable routines for the G1
Like so many technologies before, modern robots are looking for that killer app, the one thing they could do that would make them so attractive that everyone would want one. But to find that app, you need, well, 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, this isn’t exactly like, say, an iPhone app store. The routines that Unitree customers can upload and download are not as varied as, say, an app that can help you budget or another that can help you calm down with daily aphorisms. Instead, the Unitree App Store is primarily a repository of models or routines for robot tasks and movements.
Unitree App Store, which launched this week in beta, has just a few collections including Funny Actions, Twist Dance, and Bruce Lee. As you may have guessed, the latter will allow your $13,500 G1 humanoid to “reproduce Bruce Lee’s classic martial arts moves.” The Funny Actions models allow the G1 to “unleash its wild character.”
Unitree’s programming code is open source, meaning owners can write motion code and routines for their own robots, and the App Store will provide them with a place to upload it. It’s unclear whether Unitree will vet the software in a similar way to what Apple does with its App Store.
There are other questions and limitations. For now, most of the app’s options are only for the G1 model. There is also no clear monetization plan for Unitree or guest developers. In a short announcement video on YouTube, Unitree writes: “Exceptional developers will be rewarded.” It could be money or discounts on future robots, like the wild new ballet dancer-like H2.
Look
Waiting for the iPhone from the robots
Unitree’s approach to robotics development and dissemination 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 has a growing range of robot designs (humanoid and quadrupedal) and pricing options.
The Chinese company also seems less focused on development and pure innovation than, say, Boston Dynamics, which is busy perfecting its all-electric Atlas that will likely end up in factories long before it reaches consumers’ homes.
Unitree, on the other hand, seems to have sold quite a few tiny G1s at least to wealthy influencers who have filmed the robots in compromising situations (I’ll never forget seeing a G1 crash into a full-length mirror).
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The app store seems like an extension of this strategy. Instead of keeping development closed, Unitree has opened the doors and encourages developers to share. Assuming developers can leverage others’ open source, 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 qualify as 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 so excited when they’ve spent $20,000 to have it crawl along and be teleoperated in their homes. Figure 03, which lacks a timeline for housing availability, could suffer a similar fate.
Unitree’s robots, which mostly execute predefined routines and appear to have little autonomy or ability to cope with the unexpected, are also not, although slightly cheaper than $20,000, on the level of an iPhone.
For now, we can celebrate the establishment of the first Robot App Store. It won’t be the last, but this and many others that will come after will have a long wait to find the perfect combination between an affordable humanoid robot and the always desired “killer app.”
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