At Hannover Messe in Germany, one of the world’s largest industrial trade shows, humanoid robots took centre stage- wowing visitors with fluid motion and startling realism. But behind the viral videos and blinking faces lies a more complex picture: these machines may look human, but their intelligence still lags far behind.
Among the crowd-drawers was G1, a small, affordable humanoid built by Chinese company Unitree. Standing just 130cm tall, G1 dazzled passers-by with smooth dance routines, martial arts movements, and even friendly waves. Controlled remotely for now, it still requires programming for autonomous behaviour, but its shape and motion invited curiosity and warmth. People reached to shake its hand, made jokes, even apologised if they bumped into it.
Unitree is just one of nearly 50 companies working on two-armed, two-legged robots worldwide. Another 50+ develop partial humanoids- robots with arms and wheels, for example. The potential applications are vast: customer service, elderly care, logistics, or even as domestic appliances that can stack the dishwasher.
But there’s a catch: humanoid AI isn’t ready yet. Despite realistic appearances, robots still struggle with basic logic and reasoning. As a Unitree spokesperson put it “The AI simply has not yet reached a breakthrough moment… basic task logic is still a challenge.”
That gap between form and function is why most humanoids are still marketed to research institutions, not consumers. The tech remains experimental—and there are real safety concerns. A robot strong enough to be useful could also pose risks if it falls or malfunctions in an unpredictable setting like a home or restaurant.
Cost, competition and the global race
One of Unitree’s biggest advantages is cost—the G1 retails for around $16,000, far cheaper than rivals. That affordability is part of a broader trend: China is rapidly dominating the robotics race. With government backing, an expansive tech ecosystem, and in-country manufacturing, Chinese firms iterate faster and scale more cheaply.
In contrast, European and American companies face challenges sourcing parts from China, only to ship them back for assembly. UK-based founder Bren Pierce, whose company Kinisi just launched the warehouse-focused KR1, has opted to manufacture in Asia for that reason.
KR1 is built from mass-market components—including wheels from an electric scooter—and is designed for simplicity. Instead of a fully humanoid form, it runs on a mobile base and learns tasks by imitation, guided through them 20–30 times by a human.
“The real secret sauce is software people can actually use,” says Pierce. “You shouldn’t need a PhD to operate your robot.”
So how close are we to domestic robots?
While humanoid robots are already being deployed in factories—BMW and Tesla among them—developers agree that we’re still a long way from “the everything robot” that can live and work seamlessly in homes. Pierce, a longtime robotics researcher, estimates we’re at least 10 to 15 years away from that kind of breakthrough.
Until then, humanoids will likely remain confined to trade shows, factories, and testing labs- machines that look startlingly human, but still think like machines.
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