Unitree’s cheapest humanoid is now available on a free shipping basis for American robot fans on Alibaba’s (BABA) AliExpress e-commerce marketplace, throwing down the gauntlet to rival Tesla (TSLA).
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The R1 model is described as a consumer humanoid, so mainly used for personal assistance tasks. It is 4 feet tall, can run, do cartwheels and costs around $8,150 including import fees. On a scaled-down basis, it costs about $6,800.
Unitree said the robot was available from today on AliExpress with shipping to the U.S. free of charge to robot fans. The R1 robots will be sold to other international markets including Canada, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore via AliExpress.
That, said analysts, is likely to put increasing pressure on Tesla in the humanoid development race. Tesla is still developing its Optimus humanoid production line with a likely price range of about $20,000 to $30,000.
Unitree’s move comes ahead of its $615 million initial public offering in Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like Star Market to drive further growth.
China Dominates Humanoid Development
China currently dominates the humanoid robot scene. According to Morgan Stanley, China’s annual shipments of humanoid robots could exceed 2.6 million units by 2035.
According to recent data from Omdia, Chinese humanoid robot makers dominated the market in 2025, with five firms in the top 10. Agibot was top of the robot class, shipping 5,168 humanoids last year. That amounts to around 40% of the overall market. Unitree sprinted to second spot with 4,200 humanoids.
Alibaba is not just a seller. Its Amap unit is ready to introduce a quadruped into the market to challenge domestic rivals such as Unitree’s Go series. Amap’s embodied intelligence research division is also said to be exploring the feasibility of developing humanoid robots.
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