Unitree Go1

2025: Arrest of a robot dog accused of embezzlement from Pushkin Cards

The Moscow court seized the bionic robot dog Unitree GO1, owned by an entrepreneur who is accused of embezzling funds from state-owned Pushkin Cards under the guise of conducting a fictitious tour of VDNKh. The court order prohibits the owner from using and disposing of the robot, including the execution of transactions on the transfer of ownership, donation, transfer as collateral or the imposition of other encumbrances. The seizure of the property was imposed to ensure possible compensation for the victims in the event of a conviction. This became known on August 10, 2025.

According to RIA Novosti, the judicial measures are aimed at creating guarantees for the repayment of material damage or punitive damages by selling the seized property when issuing a guilty verdict. The cost of dog robots of this model on marketplaces exceeds ₽1 million, which makes them a valuable asset for enforcing a court decision.

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Фото: wifi.kz

According to the materials of the criminal case, four accused persons are held, who are charged with part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia. This article provides for liability for fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale.

According to the investigation, a group of attackers organized a cultural and mass event called "Art-VDNH Excursion." Tickets for this event were purchased by the owners of Pushkin Cards, who expected to attend an educational tour of the territory of the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy.

The declared cultural and educational event actually did not take place, which deprived the participants of the opportunity to receive the promised services. The investigating authorities believe that the organizers appropriated the funds received from the sale of tickets through the Pushkin Card system^[1]

2021: Four-legged robot announcement starting at $2,700

In mid-June 2021 the Chinese , the company Unitree Robotics introduced the four-legged robot Unitree Go1. Its cost starts at $2,700, for comparison: a similar one robot Spot Boston Dynamics costs $74,500.

Unitree Go1 comes in three versions: Go1 Air for $2,700, Go1 for $3,500 and Go1 Edu for $8500. Each weighs about 12 kg, more expensive models come with more processor power and sensors. To do this, the Unitree Go1 design provides more than 10 cameras and sensors, a 16-core processor and a GPU with a capacity of 1.5 teraflops are responsible for computing. Features such as automatic follow-the-person and avoidance of obstacles are standard, although only more expensive models reach the claimed top speed of 17km/h.

The Chinese company introduced the Unitree robot dog Go1

The Unitree Go1 robot is not intended for serious tasks or commercial use, the robot plays the role of a companion who, for example, can accompany the owner on a run, in particular carry water or other products.

The official website of Unitree Robotics does not mention the battery life of the Unitree Go1, however, given that the four-legged Spot robot from Boston Dynamics can function for up to 90 minutes without recharging, Unitree Robotics' statements about the "companion for the whole day" are most likely exaggerated.

Unitree Robotics is one of the world's first startups to start building and implementing high-performance four-legged robots. The CEO of the Chinese company Xingxing Wang developed the first robot dog named XDog during graduate school in 2016, after which investors became interested in the project, as a result of which a full-fledged company was formed. In April 2020, Unitree Robotics began working with 3Logic, which became the official distributor of the Chinese company in Russia.^[2]

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