Unitree's U.S. business runs through a New York dealer that sells community, courses and compliance

A dealer that built a factory

Fact On August 12, 2026, RoboStore, a New York distributor of Unitree's legged and humanoid robots, launched Robo Inc., a U.S. manufacturer and systems integrator. Working from a 66,000-square-foot facility on Long Island, Robo Inc. assembles robots, hardens their security, reviews firmware and writes compliance documentation before they reach U.S. customers, Smashing Robotics reported.7

Fact The launch came two weeks after the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, including humanoids and quadrupeds, to its Covered List on July 28, 2026. Listed equipment cannot receive new FCC authorizations; models authorized before the cutoff can still be sold.4

Our read For a Chinese manufacturer selling into the U.S., the customer-facing work of training, support, community and now security review sits with a local partner. This case shows what that partner does, how it gets paid, and why picking it is the biggest GTM decision a foreign robot maker will make in the U.S.

Unitree ships the most humanoids, and a shrinking share goes to America

Fact Unitree's STAR Market prospectus, published on July 30, 2026, reported 2025 revenue of 1.699 billion yuan and a 60.13% gross margin on core businesses. It shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, and cumulative quadruped sales passed 33,000 units, Gasgoo reported.2

Fact Overseas revenue exceeded 40% of the total in each of the three reporting periods disclosed. The U.S. share fell to 13.30% in the latest period from 19.54% and 18.39% earlier, Digital Today reported. Interesting Engineering had reported in April that Unitree targeted 10,000 to 20,000 robots in 2026.13

Fact Interesting Engineering, citing TrendForce, reported that Unitree would make nearly half of China's humanoid output in 2026, with Agibot at about 30%. Citing Omdia, it reported that Tesla, Figure AI and Agility Robotics each shipped about 150 humanoids in 2025.1

Fact The listing itself grew. Unitree's planned raise of about 4.2 billion yuan rose to about 6.1 billion yuan on investor demand, with subscriptions opening on August 10, 2026. For the first half of 2026 the company forecast revenue of 1.052 to 1.128 billion yuan, up 35.62% to 45.41%, while net profit excluding one-off items was expected to fall 6.43% to 21.97%.23

Fact Unitree said its G1, H2 and R1 humanoids and its Go2, B2 and A2 quadrupeds all received FCC approval before the July 28 rule. Its prospectus warned that future models could be kept out of the U.S. market.3

Our read The numbers describe a company that wins on price and volume at home and in Asia, while the U.S. becomes a smaller and harder share of its business. In that setting, Unitree has little reason to fund a large U.S. field organization. A dealer willing to carry that cost fills the gap.

Two paths into the U.S.: a marketplace and a dealer

Fact In April 2026 Unitree said it would sell the R1 humanoid in North America, Europe, Japan and Singapore through AliExpress's Brand+ channel, which offers free shipping and returns. Its price in China was 29,900 yuan, or about $4,370, Interesting Engineering reported.1

Fact The R1 stands 123 centimeters tall, weighs at least 59 pounds and is marketed as "born for sport," Interesting Engineering reported. At the time Unitree had not disclosed the AliExpress price.1

Fact RoboStore announced U.S. availability on June 22, 2026, with three tiers: R1 Basic at $8,990 with an eight-month warranty, R1 EDU from $15,950 with an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX, and R1 EDU Pro from $28,900 with dexterous hands. Its pitch was "No waitlists. No deposits." Orders ship within 30 days, with U.S.-based repair and stocked parts.5

Fact RoboStore's listing adds service terms on top of the hardware. EDU and EDU Pro units carry a 12-month warranty, and the Pro tier offers a choice of Unitree's Dex3-1 three-finger hand or BrianCo's Revo 2 five-finger hand. The page promises tech support from hardware selection onward, including ongoing demos and training.5

Our read The two channels serve different buyers. AliExpress reaches individuals who want the cheapest box. RoboStore sells to labs and companies that need a purchase order, a warranty and someone to call. The gap between the Chinese list price and RoboStore's tiers covers freight, duties, the EDU compute and the service layer. Buyers who need that layer pay for it; those who do not can go to the marketplace.

The dealer owns the classroom, the community and the security review

Fact In November 2025 RoboStore and OpenMind launched a university curriculum for the Unitree G1 humanoid, built on OpenMind's OM1 platform, Robotics and Automation News reported. The report described RoboStore as the largest U.S. distributor of Unitree humanoids, supporting more than 100 institutions including Harvard, MIT and Stanford.6

Fact Its RoboUniversity catalog now lists 16 courses and bundles, most of them for the G1. Titles cover ROS 2, MuJoCo simulation, Isaac Sim, GR00T whole-body control and vision-language-action models, plus Go2 setup.8

Fact RoboStore also runs Roboverse, a community of more than 4,000 members. Robo Inc. reviews firmware and network protocols and checks data flows for overseas transmission, though Smashing Robotics noted this cannot make Chinese-origin hardware eligible for defense, ITAR-regulated or classified work. Named customers include Harvard, MIT, Amazon and NVIDIA.7

Our read The customer list explains why the dealer built all this. Universities buy on a semester calendar, need a syllabus before they need a robot, and rarely have staff to maintain one. A dealer that sells the G1 together with a ready-made course and a repair desk removes the three reasons a department chair would say no.

Our read Every one of these assets belongs to RoboStore. The courses teach Unitree hardware but live on RoboStore's platform. The community is RoboStore's community. The security review is RoboStore's answer to a U.S. buyer's question about a Chinese robot. If Unitree switched distributors tomorrow, the trust it has built with U.S. universities would mostly stay with the dealer.

The FCC rule turned security review into a product

Fact The FCC's July 28 action covers ground-mobile machines, including humanoids, quadrupeds and autonomous mobile robots, that weigh more than 4.4 pounds, carry a sensor, have connectivity of at least 200 kbps and run controlling software, according to a Sidley Austin legal update. It was issued as Public Notice DA 26-786.4

Fact Prior authorization does not protect a robot from every change. Covered List equipment is excluded from the FCC's permissive change procedures, so a separate waiver issued the same day was needed to allow software and firmware updates that protect U.S. users through at least January 1, 2029. The waiver does not cover hardware changes.4

Our read For Unitree this largely limits the U.S. lineup to models already authorized, with hardware revisions now hard to bring in. For RoboStore it creates demand. Every university IT office and corporate buyer now has a documented reason to ask how a Chinese robot handles data, and Robo Inc. sells the answer. The rule that limits the manufacturer raises the value of the local partner.

How the money flows

Our read Unitree sells hardware at a high gross margin and lets dealers carry the cost of local sales and support. RoboStore earns the spread on hardware and adds service revenue on top: EDU configurations, warranties, repair, course bundles and, through Robo Inc., integration and compliance work. Its model also stretches across brands, since Robo Inc. says it works with several robot makers, not only Unitree.

Our read That last point is the risk for the manufacturer. A dealer that owns the courses, the community and the compliance story is building a channel business that can carry the next brand. For Unitree this has been efficient: it gets U.S. presence without U.S. headcount. It also means the U.S. relationship is rented, and the renter is getting stronger.

What a foreign robot maker should take from this

Our read Most foreign manufacturers choose U.S. partners on inventory and price. The RoboStore case argues for choosing on what the partner can build: courses that put the robot into syllabi, a community where buyers help each other, and a security process that answers procurement questions before they are asked. A dealer that only holds stock leaves all of that to the manufacturer.

Our read The manufacturer should also keep some of that trust in its own name. Co-branded courses, shared access to community data and a direct line to the largest institutional accounts cost little to negotiate at the start of a distribution deal, and a great deal to add later.