Unitree's H2-X 'Guardian' Robot Lifts a Car in Promo

Unitree Robotics, the Chinese company best known for humanoids that dance and do somersaults, now wants its robots to look useful. Its latest promotional film shows a new model, the H2-X, confronting a knife-wielding intruder, lifting a car to free a trapped victim and pulling a pedestrian out of the path of an oncoming vehicle, the South China Morning Post reports.

The clip, released on Wednesday and dubbed “Kung Fu Legend: Guardian”, is a staged promotion rather than a test. Unitree did not say when the robot would go on sale, how much it would cost or give detailed specifications, according to the paper.

What the video shows

The H2-X builds on Unitree’s H2, a full-size humanoid about 1.8 metres tall and weighing around 70kg. The earlier model had 31 degrees of freedom and a maximum leg-joint torque of 360 newton metres, SCMP says, but Unitree did not confirm whether the new version keeps those figures.

The film opens in a scrapyard, where the robot flips off a car roof, damages a door and mirror, and lands after a jump from a platform labelled four metres high, Humanoids Daily reports. The rescue scenes use props. The “victim” under the car is a dummy, and the pedestrian it pushes clear is a child-sized mannequin, after which the robot is itself run over. Unitree labels the footage as real and says it was not sped up.

The questions it leaves open

What the clip does not show is how any of this was controlled. Unitree did not clarify whether the actions were autonomous or choreographed, nor whether the H2-X can recognise a threat and respond safely in an unscripted setting, SCMP reports. Asked for more on Wednesday, a company representative said “everything is subject to the official announcement video”.

The video itself ends on a cautionary note. It warns against dangerous modifications and unauthorised uses, and advises keeping at least two to three metres away from the robot.

Pressure for revenue

SCMP frames the film as part of a shift in strategy. Unitree’s viral stunts helped it raise large sums, but China’s robotics industry is now under growing pressure to show commercial returns. Last month, the paper notes, the company said its UnifoLM-X2-1.0 AI model let humanoids spar autonomously, punching, blocking and dodging.

Investors are watching closely. Unitree’s shares closed 2.1% lower at 515 yuan on Wednesday, ending a three-day rally of nearly 30%, and remain about 39% below their 845-yuan debut price on Shanghai’s Star market in August, according to SCMP. In a filing on Tuesday, the company said it knew of no undisclosed information behind the recent unusual share-price moves.

A car-lifting bodyguard makes a striking advert. The harder sell is a robot that customers will trust near people without a two-metre buffer.