内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/unitree-influencer-4-foot-robot-from-china/

内容总结：

波兰街头惊现中国机器人"网红"爱德华——一款中国造人形机器人的全球爆红之路

近日，一款名为"爱德华·瓦尔霍茨基"的四英尺高中国人形机器人在波兰街头走红，凭借其流利的波兰语对话能力和亲民性格，迅速成为社交媒体上的超级明星，全球累计浏览量突破40亿次，粉丝超过百万。

从恐怖机器到全民偶像

六个月前，波兰软件开发者伊奇克和好友格热拉奇克从中国购买了一台人形机器人，取名"爱德华"。起初，这台不会说话的机器人让路人感到恐惧。随后，伊奇克为其接入了大语言模型，使爱德华能够用波兰语进行实时对话。"当它开始说话时，人们立刻爱上了它。不说话时，它只是一台40公斤的机器。"伊奇克表示。

爱德华很快成为"社交达人"——它访问了波兰议会并与政客交谈，登山涉湖，被警察"玩笑式逮捕"，今年4月更因在华沙驱赶野猪的视频在全球爆红。

同款机器人席卷全球

值得注意的是，全球各地近期涌现的人形机器人网红——包括奥斯汀街头戴牛仔帽搭讪路人的"Rizzbot"、纽约与篮球球迷共舞的"巴特机器人"、以及迈阿密的"布里克尔"——均出自同一型号：中国宇树科技的G1人形机器人。

G1体型如儿童大小，面部有蓝色光环，灰色铝合金四肢，目前正出现在《美国达人秀》、功夫表演、拳击比赛、音乐会等各类场景中。

商业化进程领先全球

宇树科技即将在中国股市上市，其财务披露显示：2025年超半数收入来自向真实客户交付人形机器人，全年交付5511台，均价低于2.5万美元，其中43%的销售来自海外，公司也实现了首次盈利。

"我们测试了很多机器人，G1是同类中最好的。我们习惯了中国模仿别国，但从人形机器人角度看，别人应该模仿中国。"伊奇克评价道。

挑战与隐忧

尽管商业上成功，但质疑声不断：这些机器人能否胜任传统工作？此外，购买者坦言，由于担心安全隐患，大部分时间仍需远程操控机器人，而非完全依赖其自主行动能力。

今年7月，美国联邦通信委员会宣布禁止新进口中国制造的人形机器人，已获批准的型号理论上仍可使用，但未来宇树新一代产品或将无法进入美国市场。

在迈阿密，24岁的库珀斯坦花费6.6万美元购买了一台定制版G1，命名为"布里克尔·克兰克"，通过参加世界杯派对等活动，以每小时800至1200美元的价格出租盈利。他最近又购买了宇树更平价的R1型号。

"没人知道是我在操控它。我混在人群中看着这一切，心里想：天哪，这就是未来。"库珀斯坦回忆道。

中文翻译：

当爱德华·瓦尔乔基和你交谈时，他听起来像个普通人。“不是特别聪明，但非常感性，很容易交朋友，”他的创造者巴尔托什·伊济克说。但当他不说话时，人们更难以忘记瓦尔乔基的真实身份：一个只有1.2米高的人形机器人，正在波兰的城市街道上游荡。

六个月前，伊济克和他的朋友拉多斯瓦夫·热拉奇克产生了从中国购买一个人形机器人的想法。他们以热拉奇克的狗埃迪的名字和波兰语中“咆哮”一词“warczeć”为它命名“爱德华·瓦尔乔基”，还因为这个名字听起来像一个说得通的波兰人名。最初几天他们带爱德华出门时，它还不会说话，人们明显对它感到害怕。后来，身为软件开发者的伊济克将爱德华接入了一个大型语言模型，让它能够用波兰语进行实时对话。

“当它开始说话时，人们就喜欢上它了。不说话的话，它只是一台40公斤的机器，”伊济克说。

爱德华很快就交了很多朋友。它参观了波兰议会并与政客交谈，徒步登山、在湖里涉水，还被警察开玩笑地逮捕过。今年4月，一段它背着背包、戴着劳力士在华沙追赶野猪的视频在全球走红。到目前为止，爱德华在社交媒体上拥有超过100万粉丝和40亿次浏览量。

在2026年，你一定见过至少一个这样的人形网红在世界各地活动。有戴着牛仔帽、在奥斯汀街头与路人调情的“Rizzbot”；有在纽约与尼克斯球迷一起跳霹雳舞、庆祝球队历史性夺冠的“巴特机器人”；还有在世界杯每场比赛后换上不同球衣与球迷狂欢的“布里克尔·克兰克”。

但除非你一直密切关注，否则你可能没有意识到这些机器人都是同一个型号：宇树科技G1，这是当今全球市场上最容易买到、价格最实惠的人形机器人之一，由一家引领机器人行业的中国公司制造。G1体型如孩童大小，中空的面部有一圈蓝色光环，四肢是浅灰色的铝制材料。它登上《美国达人秀》、展示功夫、进行拳击比赛、跑酷、在演唱会上跳舞、和孩子们赛跑、做饭（但失败了）、与凯·塞纳特直播、乞讨钱财、和自己约会、在日本和韩国被剃度出家、在迪拜的清真寺祈祷。

X平台上一个匿名网络喷子发帖说：“这个铁疙瘩简直太炸了！”

宇树科技将在大约两周后在中国股市上市。其财务披露显示了该公司产品的受欢迎程度：与大多数产品仍在实验室测试的机器人公司不同，宇树科技2025年一半以上的收入来自向真实客户交付人形机器人。该公司2025年交付了5511台人形机器人，平均单价不到25000美元。其中43%的销售额来自中国以外市场。该公司还在去年首次实现了盈利。

“我们测试了很多款人形机器人，G1在同类型中表现最好，”伊济克说。“我们习惯了中国模仿其他国家，但从人形机器人的角度来看，其他国家应该模仿中国。”

尽管商业上取得了成功，该公司及其机器人却常常受到强烈的质疑。诚然，它们能执行博眼球、讨人喜欢的任务，但它们能在流水线上工作或打扫房间，承担一份为经济做贡献的传统工作吗？宇树G1什么时候才能找到一份真正的工作？

在美国购买

24岁的杰克·库珀斯坦住在迈阿密，他说自己受到爱德华和其他账号的启发，也想打造一个属于自己的真人版网红。今年1月，他参观了纽约一家机器人商店的仓库，测试了宇树G1机器人。操作之简便给他留下了深刻印象。第二天，他就下单并支付了定金。

在宇树科技的官网上，基础版G1标价13500美元，但这还不包括关税、运费和税费。一家美国经销商标价约19000美元。不过库珀斯坦并不满足于此。最基础的版本不配备灵巧手等更精密的部件，且禁止改装。他转而选择了专为教育类买家设计的U5版本。这个版本有更多部件，可定制性更强，但价格高达66000美元。

库珀斯坦将他的G1命名为“布里克尔·克兰克”，取自迈阿密市中心的一个社区，然后开始带它到公共场合与人们互动。

布里克尔·克兰克今夏参加了世界杯赛后派对，换穿阿根廷、巴西和美国的各款球衣，由此一炮而红。如今，库珀斯坦主要通过收费将布里克尔·克兰克带到网红派对、夜店和企业活动上赚钱。收费从每小时800到1200美元不等，取决于机器人需要做什么。

库珀斯坦最近又买了一个机器人：宇树R1。这款速度更快、重量更轻的型号售价仅为G1基础价的三分之一左右，是宇树科技为让人形机器人更加亲民所做的尝试。他给新机器人取名为“小克兰克”。

他未来能否继续购买宇树的机器人尚不清楚。今年7月，美国联邦通信委员会宣布禁止进口中国制造的新款人形机器人。理论上，已经通过审批的型号——如宇树G1和R1——仍然允许使用，但没人能确定。可以确定的是，当宇树发布下一代人形机器人时，将无法再销售到美国。宇树科技未回应置评请求。

硬件和软件的限制

在欧洲，爱德华·瓦尔乔基面临的威胁较少。伊济克表示，他与热拉奇克共同创立的MERA Robotics公司现在拥有20台人形机器人，大部分是宇树G1。波兰的每台机器人都共享爱德华的个性，但他们在中东和东南亚也有一些以不同网红身份运营的机器人。

虽然大语言模型让机器人能够自由交谈，但在物理运动方面，它们仍然受到很多限制。伊济克和库珀斯坦都表示，现在带机器人出门时，大部分时间都是远程操控。理论上，宇树G1应该能够自行在物理环境中移动，但他们担心故障可能伤及旁观者，造成安全隐患。

库珀斯坦拿到的G1内置了约20个手势和15个舞蹈动作。除此之外，要编写新的动作需要一定的技术知识。例如，他教会了布里克尔·克兰克做动作，模拟今年挪威足球迷的标志性“维京划桨”手势。

库珀斯坦仍然记得他第一次带布里克尔·克兰克去世界杯球迷节的那天。数百人，包括媒体，围住这个机器人，看着它跳舞并欢呼。“没人知道是我在操控它。看起来我就像混在人群里。我就站在那儿看着所有人，”他说，“我当时心想，‘天哪，这就是未来。’”

本文是杨泽毅和路易丝·马察基斯“中国制造”通讯的一期。点击此处阅读往期通讯。

评论

返回顶部

英文来源：

When Edward Warchocki speaks with you, he sounds like a regular guy. “Not super intelligent, but very emotional, very easy to make friends with,” says Bartosz Idzik, the person who created him. But when he doesn’t talk, it’s harder to forget what Warchocki really is: a 4-foot-tall humanoid robot that’s wandering the city streets of Poland.
Six months ago, Idzik and his friend Radosław Grzelaczyk had the idea of buying a humanoid robot from China. They named it “Edward Warchocki” after Grzelaczyk’s dog Eddie and the Polish word for growling, “warczeć,” but also because it sounds like a passable name for a Pole. The first few days they took Edward out, it couldn’t speak, and people were clearly scared of it. Then Idzik, a software developer, wired Edward to a large language model that made it capable of having live conversations in Polish.
“When he started to talk, people loved him. Without talking, it’s just a 40-kilogram machine,” Idzik says.
Edward soon made lots of friends. It visited the Polish parliament and talked to politicians, hiked up mountains and waded in the lake, and was jokingly arrested by the police. In April, a video of it chasing away wild boars in Warsaw, armed with a backpack and a Rolex, went viral worldwide. By now, Edward has over 1 million followers and 4 billion views across social media.
In 2026, you must have seen at least one of these humanoid influencers vibing around the world. There’s “Rizzbot,” which wears a cowboy hat and flirts with passersby on the streets of Austin; “Bart Robot,” which was breakdancing with Knicks fans in New York, celebrating the team’s historic championship; and the “Brickell Clanker,” which changed into different jerseys to party with World Cup fans after each game.
But unless you’ve been paying close attention, you probably haven’t realized these robots are all the same model: Unitree G1, one of the most available and affordable humanoid robots on the global market today, made by a Chinese company that’s leading the robotics industry. The G1 is about the size of a child, with a hollowed-out face with a ring of blue light and light-gray limbs made of aluminum. It’s going on America’s Got Talent, showing off kung fu, having boxing matches, parkouring, dancing at concerts, running with kids, cooking (but failing), streaming with Kai Cenat, begging for money, dating itself, being ordained as a monk in Japan and Korea, and praying at a mosque in Dubai.
An anonymous shitposter on X put it: “This clanker is lit as fuck!”
Unitree will go public on the Chinese stock market in about two weeks. Its financial disclosure tells how popular the company’s products are: Unlike most robot companies whose products are still being tested in labs, more than half of Unitree’s 2025 revenue came from delivering humanoid robots to real customers. It shipped 5,511 humanoids in 2025 at an average price of less than $25,000 each. And 43 percent of all sales came from outside China. The company also became profitable for the first time last year.
“We tested a lot of humanoids, and the G1 was the best for its purpose,” Idzik says. “We are used to China copying other countries, but from the perspective of humanoids, other people should copy China. ”
Despite its commercial success, the company and its robots are often the subject of intense doubts. Sure, they can perform clout-seeking, crowd-pleasing tasks, but can they hold down a traditional job contributing to the economy, like working on an assembly line or cleaning a house? When will Unitree G1 get a real job?
Buying It in the US
Jake Cooperstein, a 24-year-old who lives in Miami, says he was inspired by Edward and other accounts to create a humanoid influencer of his own. In January, he visited the warehouse of a robotics shop in New York and tested the Unitree G1 robot. He was impressed by how easy it was to operate. The next day, he secured an order and paid the deposit.
On Unitree’s website, a basic G1 robot is priced at $13,500, but that’s before any tariff, shipping, and taxes. A US distributor lists the robot at about $19,000 instead. Cooperstein was not satisfied with that, though. The most basic version doesn’t come with more sophisticated parts like dextrous hands and is prohibited from modification. He instead chose the U5 variation that’s designed for educational buyers. It has more parts and better customization but sits at the price of $66,000.
Cooperstein named his G1 robot the “Brickell Clanker,” after the downtown Miami neighborhood, and started taking it out in public to interact with people.
Brickell Clanker got its big break by attending the World Cup games after-parties this summer, changing into different jerseys for Argentina, Brazil, and the US. Today, Cooperstein makes money mostly by charging a fee to bring Brickell Clanker to influencer parties, nightclubs, and corporate events. Rates range from $800 to $1,200 an hour, depending on what the robot needs to do.
Cooperstein recently got another robot: a Unitree R1. At almost one-third the base price of the G1, this faster, lighter model is Unitree’s attempt to make humanoids even more affordable. He named the new robot the “Lil Clanker.”
It’s unclear whether he’ll be able to keep buying Unitree’s robots. In July, the US Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on new Chinese-made humanoid robots. The models that had cleared approvals—like Unitree G1 and R1—are theoretically still allowed, but no one knows for sure. What’s certain is that when Unitree releases its next generation of humanoid robots, it won’t be able to sell them to the US. Unitree didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Hardware and Software Limits
In Europe, Edward Warchocki faces fewer threats. Idzik says MERA Robotics, the company he cofounded with Grzelaczyk, now has a fleet of 20 humanoid robots, most of them Unitree G1. Every robot in Poland shares the personality of Edward, but they also have some in the Middle East and Southeast Asia operating as different influencers.
While the LLM can enable the robots to converse freely, when it comes to physical movement they’re still under a lot of constraints. Both Idzik and the Cooperstein say that when they bring the robots out now, they are teleoperating the robots most of the time. Theoretically, the Unitree G1 should be able to move around in the physical environment by itself, but they are worried of a malfunction possibly hurting a bystander, creating a safety hazard.
The G1 robot that Cooperstein got came with about 20 gestures and 15 dance moves built in. Beyond that, it takes some technical knowledge to program new movements. For example, he taught the Brickell Clanker to move its arms in a way that simulates the signature “Viking Row” gesture done by Norwegian soccer fans this year.
Cooperstein still remembers the first day he took Brickell Clanker to the World Cup fan festival. Hundreds of people, including the press, circled the humanoid and cheered it on as it danced. “Nobody knows that it's me controlling it. It seems like I'm blending in with the crowd. I'm just staring out and looking at everybody,” he says, “and I'm like, ‘holy shit, this is the future.’”
This is an edition of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made in China newsletter. Read previous newsletters here.
Comments
Back to top