I spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China

The author took a Unitree Go2 Pro quadruped on the morning commute and drew steady attention from passersby, who photographed the machine and asked about its purpose. Biological dogs often kept their distance, while children were delighted by simple programmed tricks such as "shake" and small jumps.

The robot completed a mostly downhill walk to the office and was recharged there, but it had difficulty on the return trip as the route turned uphill and the temperature rose to about 87°F (30°C). Near home the phone showed the internal temperature at 84°C (183°F) and the battery level at roughly 5 percent; a short distance from the front door the machine collapsed, ending up on its back with its face light blinking red and its lidar still spinning.

Practically speaking, the author found limited day-to-day utility for the device: quadrupeds are common in lab research and sometimes used for entertainment, but wheeled robots and drones are often more efficient for deliveries and inspections, and the lack of manipulators limits household tasks. The compelling factor for the author was price — $4,017 — vastly lower than comparable platforms a few years ago, making the technology affordable enough that new or unexpected uses might emerge.

Researchers and industry observers say Unitree’s lower costs have reshaped the field. George Mason University roboticist Xuesu Xiao told the author that Unitree helped democratize quadruped locomotion research; his lab uses multiple Unitree units that cost around $15,000 each, whereas earlier name-brand models such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot start near $75,000. Unitree has since expanded into humanoid robots (first released in 2023) with models priced as low as about $13,500, and the company went public on the Shanghai exchange on August 19 — its shares jumped more than fivefold on debut and at a recent close the firm was valued near $34 billion, roughly triple its pre-IPO valuation.