Unitree G1 Robot-Fighter Hits Engineer During Testing
Credit: Unitree
An incident occurred in the testing lab of the Chinese company Unitree during martial arts training for the G1 humanoid robot. The robot, mirroring the operator’s movements, unexpectedly delivered a painful blow to the groin. The training was filmed, which received widespread attention and quickly went viral on social media.
During the tests the operator and the robot stood facing each other. The engineer, wearing a special motion-capture suit that tracks his movements, performed a kick, intending to demonstrate a combat technique. The system worked as expected, and G1 repeated the move, landing a painful kick in the groin. While the operator recovered, the robot continued to mirror their posture, leaning forward and feigning pain, which added a certain comical effect to the situation. User @zeonsunlight from the Chinese platform Bilibili, who posted the footage, and other commenters noted that the incident clearly demonstrated how careful one should be when interacting with robots today.
This incident has drawn further attention to the Unitree G1 robot. Back in October, the company released a stunning 45-second video titled “KungFu Kid V6.0” demonstrating its capabilities. In the video, which Unitree confirmed is not sped up, the robot performs a complex sequence of kung fu-inspired moves: high kicks, spins, one-legged stands, low sweeps, as well as somersaults and back handsprings with stable landings.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk also commented, leaving a “laughing with tears” emoji. Musk himself previously promised to release a new version of the Optimus robot at the beginning of the year.
In November, Unitree Robotics unveiled a full teleoperation platform that allows the G1 to mimic human movements in real time and learn from videos—from soccer kicks to martial arts.
