China’s humanoid robot maker Unitree has showcased a major cold-weather milestone, with its G1 robot completing an autonomous trek across an extreme snowfield in northwest China.
The humanoid walked more than 130,000 steps in temperatures plunging to –47.4°C (-53°F) in Xinjiang’s Altay region, successfully tracing a Winter Olympics emblem across the ice.
The feat, spanning an area 186 metres long and 100 metres wide, is being described as the first confirmed instance of a humanoid robot achieving sustained autonomous walking in such severe cold conditions, according to various media outlets.
Last January, luxury brand Caviar unveiled Aladdin, a lavish reimagining of Unitree’s G1, positioning it as the world’s first luxury humanoid robot.
Humanoid endures freeze
Unitree has staged a high-profile demonstration of its G1 humanoid robot’s ability to operate in some of the harshest natural conditions on Earth, sending the biped into the deep freeze of China’s far northwest.
The test took place in Xinjiang’s Altay region, an area widely regarded as the cradle of human skiing, where winter temperatures can plunge well below what most commercial robots are designed to endure, reports Humanoids Daily.
During the outing, the G1 conducted a prolonged autonomous walk in ambient conditions, reaching a temperature of –47.4°C. Unitree disclosed that the robot logged more than 130,000 steps at a location with coordinates of 89.75° east longitude and 47.21° north latitude.
The machine was deliberately modified for the task, departing from its standard factory setup. To mitigate extreme thermal stress, engineers dressed the robot in an orange insulated puffer jacket and added improvised plastic coverings around its lower limbs, a pragmatic attempt to shield joints, actuators, and battery systems from freezing.
The trial highlights a growing emphasis on environmental durability within the humanoid robotics industry. As companies look beyond controlled indoor environments, resilience to weather and temperature is emerging as a competitive benchmark. Rival firm Deep Robotics, for instance, has promoted its all-weather DR02 platform, which has an IP66 protection rating and a certified minimum operating temperature of –20°C.
Unitree’s experiment goes further, testing the outer limits of survivability for a general-purpose bipedal system, reports Humanoids Daily.
As part of the demonstration, the G1 traversed a snowfield while autonomously tracing the outline of a Winter Olympics emblem measuring approximately 186 metres by 100 metres. The robot relied on China’s Beidou satellite navigation network for centimetre-level positioning accuracy, while onboard adaptive path-planning algorithms enabled stable, continuous movement across uneven, icy terrain, according to CNEVPost.
G1 powered by 9,000 mAh battery
The G1 is a compact humanoid robot, standing about 127 centimetres (around 4.2 feet) tall and weighing roughly 77 pounds (35 kilograms). Its mechanical design includes between 23 and 43 joint motors, depending on the configuration, with a maximum joint torque of 120 newton-metres.
The G1 is equipped with a range of advanced sensors, including 3D LiDAR, an Intel RealSense depth camera, and a noise-cancelling microphone array for voice control. It is powered by a 9,000 mAh quick-release battery that delivers up to two hours of operation and supports rapid battery swapping. An eight-core processor controls the robot’s joint systems, allowing agile movement and a maximum walking speed of about 6.5 feet per second, or roughly 4.5 miles per hour.
The robot runs on UnifoLM, Unitree’s proprietary unified large model for robotics, and supports reinforcement learning for motion control and task execution.
Introduced in May 2024, the G1 is positioned as an entry-level humanoid robot, with a starting price of RMB 99,000 (around US$14,240) in the Chinese market.
Unitree is among China’s major humanoid robot manufacturers, and the company reported total humanoid robot shipments exceeding 5,500 units in 2025, according to figures released last month, according to CNEVPost.
Jijo is an automotive and business journalist based in India. Armed with a BA in History (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and a PG diploma in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, he has worked for news agencies, national newspapers, and automotive magazines. In his spare time, he likes to go off-roading, engage in political discourse, travel, and teach languages.