Chinese robotics company Unitree has a new humanoid robot to unsettle you. Called the H2, or the “H2 bionic humanoid”, this guy’s a little bigger than the kickboxing G1. We still reckon the company’s A2 Stellar Hunter Explorer can take it in a fight, though.
If the Unitree G1 is the size of a pre-teen child, the H2 humanoid will look most humans directly in the eye. Standing 1.8 metres tall, its dimensions are roughly similar to those of the existing H1, a R1.5 million humanoid that seems rather less dextrous than its successor.
H2 gets pretty sharp
If the weight carries over, that puts the company’s newest addition at roughly 50kg in weight. But the way it moves in Unitree’s promotional video suggests that the H2 is very light on its feet. Why? Because it does ballet (of a sort), if you’re able to program that in. We highly doubt it spontaneously started to pirouette, even if that would have been hilarious to see.
Most of its moves appear to be modifications of dance, tai chi, and Derek Zoolander-like runway modelling, with occasional breaks into martial arts moves. Since the G1 is capable of the same, this longer version could probably give you a nasty surprise if it ambushed you in an alleyway.
Read More: Unitree’s new A2 Stellar Explorer robot dog is, frankly, terrifying
It’s also surprisingly speedy, given that it sacrificed some of the H1’s speed for better articulation. The new humanoid has been created with the service industry in mind, though its current usefulness will be limited by its hand control — none of which is demonstrated in Unitree’s latest video.
But at least it has fingers, which is more than the Unitree H1 had. That one was designed, more or less, for punching things, with a knobbly rubber ball sitting where its hands should have been. Since the H1 is basically out of a job now, perhaps it’s that you should look out for in darkened alleyways.
