On December 16, Wang Xingxing, Founder, CEO and CTO of Unitree, attended the Global Tourism Economy Forum · Heilongjiang 2025.
At the forum, Wang delivered a keynote speech titled A New Journey for the Application of Intelligent Robots in Culture and Tourism, exploring the development and application prospects of robots.
During the speech, while introducing the company’s products, Wang revealed that the Unitree R1, newly launched by Unitree on July 25, 2025, offers higher cost-effectiveness compared with previous models. He emphasized that this high cost-effectiveness is supported by advanced production technologies, including the adoption of automatic spring equipment which ensures precise assembly of core components like joint springs, effectively improving production efficiency and reducing manual error. He stated, “Presently available for pre-order on platforms such as JD.com and Taobao, the robot stands over 1.2 meters tall, with the basic configuration priced at only RMB 29,000.”
Based on the product’s strengths, he projected that the Unitree R1 will achieve even greater global sales next year. Wang further elaborated on the company’s development vision: “We have always aspired to make our robots as ubiquitous worldwide as mobile phones and computers once became.”
He then used the evolution of computers as an analogy to illustrate his point. When computers first emerged, their software ecosystem was underdeveloped, rendering them almost useless for ordinary people—they could not even produce a decent PPT smoothly.
In his view, robots are in a similar situation today. While the basic hardware is in place, the software capabilities are far from sufficient. Therefore, he noted, “We have long hoped to build a globally collaborative software ecosystem community in the future. Just like with today’s mobile phones and computers, developers from all over the world will be able to contribute to it.”
