Demand for Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots surged after their dance performance during the Spring Festival Gala on CCTV, a sales manager from Unitree told the Chinese media outlet Jiupai News on Tuesday. On Jan. 28, to celebrate China’s Lunar New Year, Unitree Robotics’ H1 model teamed up with real dancers to perform a traditional Yangge dance on television, with the routine subsequently trending on social media.
“The phone lines for purchase inquiries haven’t stopped, with demands ranging from dance performances and catering services to factory applications, and all sorts of extravagant requests,” said the sales manager (our translation). “Despite the strong demand, the robots are not yet suited for dance performances. To make a robot capable of performing a dance routine, a large development team is needed for adaptation, which drives up the cost,” the sales manager added.
If the price of the quadruped robots drops to around RMB 3,000-4,000 ($412-$550), they will become more accessible to consumers, another Unitree executive mentioned; the current price of RMB 10,000 ($1,374) is still too expensive for the average consumer they added. [IThome, in Chinese]
