Tesla Optimus, Figure 03, Unitree G1 and 1X NEO Compared
A source-checked comparison of Optimus, Figure 03, Unitree G1 and 1X NEO covering hardware, autonomy, pricing, production and real deployments today.
Introduction
Only one of these four robots has a public checkout price. Unitree lists the base G1 at $13,500 before tax and shipping. 1X accepts a $200 deposit for NEO and publishes a $20,000 Early Access ownership price or a monthly plan. Figure has delivered more than 350 Figure 03 units according to its own April 2026 production update, but does not sell the robot through a public store. Tesla describes Optimus as a general-purpose autonomous biped, yet still publishes no current product price, order page or complete specification sheet.
That split matters more than a choreography video or a single manipulation clip. This comparison separates published hardware from missing data, autonomous execution from human assistance, production capacity from delivered units and a research platform from a consumer product. Each row refers to one named generation: Figure 03, Unitree G1, the 2026 1X NEO product page and Tesla’s current Optimus program. Earlier Tesla prototypes and Figure 02 deployment results are discussed only when the generation is stated.
Key findings
- Unitree G1 is the easiest of the four to purchase for research because its base price, specifications and store channel are public.
- Figure has published the strongest quantified factory evidence: Figure 02 logged 1,250 hours at BMW, while Figure 03 later entered a separate logistics workflow.
- 1X NEO has the clearest home-commercial offer, but Early Access combines basic autonomy with scheduled Expert Mode and remote control.
- Tesla has the largest manufacturing ambition but the least complete public product sheet among the four compared here.
- No company has published a common benchmark that makes dexterity, task success or autonomy directly comparable across all four robots.
Four humanoid robots compared
“Not publicly disclosed” means the manufacturer did not publish a current value on the official pages reviewed on July 11, 2026.
| Robot | Body and mobility | Hands and sensing | Battery | Autonomy evidence | Price and availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Optimus | Biped. Current height, mass, speed and payload are not consolidated in a current official product sheet. | Tesla shows articulated hands and vision-led manipulation, but a current finger count, hand DOF and tactile specification are not published on its AI page. | Not publicly disclosed. | Autonomy is the program goal. Public clips do not provide a standard intervention log, success rate or continuous third-party evaluation. | No public sale price, deposit or delivery program. |
| Figure 03 | Third-generation biped. Figure says it has 9% less mass than Figure 02 but does not publish a complete current size and payload table. | Palm cameras, compliant fingertips and company-developed tactile sensors able to detect a claimed three grams of pressure. | 2.3 kWh pack; Figure reports about five hours at peak use and 2 kW wireless charging. | Helix 02 demonstrations are described by Figure as autonomous, including an uncut four-minute dishwasher sequence. Evidence remains company-produced. | Enterprise channel only. Price not public. More than 350 units delivered according to Figure. |
| Unitree G1 | 1.32 m, about 35 kg, 23 DOF base or up to 43 DOF on EDU configurations. Depth camera and 3D LiDAR. | Base model has no dexterous hand. EDU can use an optional 7-DOF three-finger Dex3-1 hand with optional tactile arrays. | 9,000 mAh quick-release battery; about two hours claimed runtime. | Research platform with imitation and reinforcement-learning tooling. Many advertised example functions are explicitly marked as still in development. | From $13,500 before tax and shipping. Public store and sales channel. |
| 1X NEO | 1.68 m, 30 kg. Official page lists 1.4 m/s walking, 6.2 m/s maximum running, 25 kg carry and 8 kg arm payload. | Five-finger tendon-driven hands. The main product page lists 22 DOF per hand; a July 2026 hand article describes a newer 24/25-DOF architecture, so buyers should confirm configuration. | 842 Wh; up to four hours claimed runtime; self-charging. | Basic autonomy through Redwood AI, plus scheduled Expert Mode for remote human supervision and user-controlled remote operation. | $20,000 Early Access ownership or $499 per month; $200 refundable deposit; initial U.S. deliveries in 2026. |
The products are aimed at different buyers
Unitree G1 is sold as a compact humanoid development platform. Its base configuration is inexpensive relative to full-size systems, but the lower price omits the dexterous hands and expanded compute expected in many manipulation projects. The EDU version adds secondary development access and optional hand configurations. A lab can buy the body, read the specifications and begin building its own control stack; it should not expect a finished general worker.
Figure 03 is an enterprise fleet platform. Figure redesigned the robot for Helix, home-safe contact, inductive charging and higher-volume production. The company does not publish a retail price or self-service order process. Access is tied to commercial relationships, internal fleet development and selected deployments.
NEO is positioned as a home product. The soft body, low mass, quiet operation, stereo cameras, mobile app and subscription structure reflect that target. Early owners are also joining a learning program: 1X says the robot arrives with foundational autonomy and can use a scheduled human Expert for chores it cannot yet perform.
Optimus remains a vertically integrated Tesla program rather than a purchasable product. Tesla’s official AI page describes the intended capability and the engineering disciplines behind it, but does not provide a buyer-facing configuration, warranty, delivery territory or price.
Autonomy cannot be inferred from smooth movement alone
Figure provides the clearest description of end-to-end autonomous execution among the four. Helix 02 uses head cameras, palm cameras, tactile data and proprioception to control the full body. Figure describes its dishwasher demonstration as autonomous and uncut, without human intervention or resets. That supports an Autonomous classification for the specific filmed sequence, not every task Figure 03 can attempt.
NEO should be classified task by task. Navigation, self-charging and known chores may run autonomously. Unknown or difficult chores can move into Human-in-the-loop or Teleoperated operation through Expert Mode or remote control. The visible result may look identical, so an honest caption must state which mode was used.
Unitree supplies hardware and development interfaces. A G1 demonstration can be scripted, teleoperated, driven by a learned policy or autonomously executed by customer software. The robot model alone does not determine the control mode. Tesla says autonomy is the goal for Optimus, but its public media does not consistently disclose supervision, resets or intervention for each clip.
Public deployment evidence favors Figure, while Unitree favors access
Figure’s strongest operational record belongs to the retired Figure 02 generation. The company reports an 11-month BMW program, 1,250 runtime hours, more than 90,000 parts loaded and contribution to 30,000 X3 vehicles. Those are company-reported metrics from an active assembly line and should not be silently transferred to Figure 03. In June 2026, Figure separately showed Figure 03 handling parts and pulling a cart in a BMW logistics workflow.
Unitree has broader open-market access and disclosed 2025 humanoid shipments above 5,500 units across its humanoid range. That shipment figure does not establish how many G1 units perform paid industrial work, nor does it show task success. It demonstrates manufacturing and customer delivery, a different kind of maturity.
1X says NEO entered Early Access customer homes in 2026 and has opened a dedicated factory. Public evidence still needs household-scale reliability metrics: intervention frequency, task duration, failure recovery and how often Experts are scheduled. Tesla has shown Optimus inside its own facilities, but has not published an equivalent externally auditable deployment table.
Recommendations by use case
Best for research: Unitree G1 EDU
The public price, compact 35 kg body, secondary-development option, LiDAR and camera stack make G1 the most accessible starting point. Budget for the EDU configuration, hands, compute, safety equipment and integration rather than comparing only the $13,500 base price.
Best for industrial pilots: Figure 03
Figure has manufacturing volume, a dedicated enterprise workflow and the most detailed published predecessor deployment. Access is selective and pricing is not public, so this recommendation is about pilot evidence rather than procurement simplicity.
Best for home ambitions: 1X NEO
NEO is the only one of the four sold with an explicit home offer, published ownership and subscription terms, a soft body and home-oriented assistance model. Early Access buyers must accept that some useful work will still require human supervision.
Most accessible to purchase: Unitree G1
G1 has a public base price and store channel. NEO also accepts orders, but its first deliveries are geographically limited and the $200 deposit is not the robot’s full price.
Strongest public evidence of deployment: Figure
Figure’s BMW reporting includes runtime, parts and vehicle-production figures. The evidence is still supplied by Figure and BMW rather than an independent audit, but it is more specific than a partnership announcement or a short factory clip.
Limitations and missing information
- Tesla does not publish a current Optimus product specification sheet, price, delivery schedule or task-level intervention logs.
- Figure does not publish a complete Figure 03 dimensions, weight and payload table. Figure 02 BMW results cannot be treated as Figure 03 results.
- The 1X product page and July 2026 hand article use different hand-DOF wording. Buyers should obtain the contracted configuration in writing.
- Company-produced videos do not provide a common test protocol, randomized environments or independent success-rate measurements.
- Production targets such as BotQ capacity or Tesla volume ambitions are not the same as units delivered to paying customers.
Conclusion
There is no single winner because these robots are being sold, tested and measured in different ways. Unitree G1 is the practical choice for a lab that needs hardware now. Figure 03 has the strongest published industrial trajectory, supported by quantified Figure 02 work at BMW and a growing Figure 03 fleet. NEO is the clearest consumer proposition, with unusually detailed hardware and price information, but its useful-task model still includes scheduled human assistance. Optimus may eventually benefit from Tesla’s manufacturing and AI infrastructure, yet a buyer cannot currently compare it as a normal product because the essential commercial and technical fields remain unpublished.
The most defensible comparison is therefore based on evidence type: purchasability for Unitree, deployment documentation for Figure, home product design for 1X and manufacturing ambition for Tesla. Any ranking that ignores those different evidence levels turns four distinct programs into a misleading specification contest.
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy Tesla Optimus in 2026?
No public Tesla order page, full sale price or customer delivery program was available when this article was verified on July 11, 2026. Tesla describes Optimus as an autonomous general-purpose biped and recruits for production engineering, but those activities do not constitute a retail or enterprise sales offer.
How much does Unitree G1 cost?
Unitree lists the base G1 from $13,500, excluding tax and shipping. The research-oriented G1 EDU, dexterous hands, additional compute and support require a sales quotation. The base price should not be compared with a fully configured research system without listing the options.
Is 1X NEO fully autonomous?
1X says NEO works autonomously by default and arrives with basic autonomy. The same official page describes scheduled Expert Mode for chores the robot does not know and remote control through mobile and VR interfaces. Its correct classification therefore changes by task between autonomous, human-in-the-loop and teleoperated.
Is Figure 03 already working at BMW?
Figure published a June 2026 Figure 03 logistics workflow at BMW involving part handling and cart pulling. The older Figure 02 completed a separate 11-month body-shop deployment and was retired. Results from Figure 02 should not be presented as Figure 03 performance.
Which robot has the best hands?
No shared benchmark supports an absolute answer. Figure publishes sensitive tactile fingertips and palm cameras. NEO publishes high-DOF tendon-driven hands and strength data. Unitree offers optional three-finger force-controlled hands on G1 EDU. Tesla has not published a current hand specification detailed enough for the same comparison.
Which robot is best for a university laboratory?
Unitree G1 EDU is the most straightforward procurement option among these four because it exposes development interfaces and has a public base platform. A university should still evaluate fall protection, spare parts, hand options, compute, documentation, warranty and local technical support before purchase.
Sources and methodology
TechniaHQ reviewed manufacturer product pages, official technical announcements, order pages and deployment reports. Values are tied to the named generation. Company claims are described as claims when no independent audit is available. Missing fields were left undisclosed rather than inferred from older prototypes, conference slides or social-media commentary.
- AI & Robotics: Tesla Optimus — Tesla · Accessed July 11, 2026
- Introducing Figure 03 — Figure AI · October 9, 2025
- Figure 03 battery development — Figure AI · 2026
- Ramping Figure 03 Production — Figure AI · April 29, 2026
- Figure 02 production at BMW — Figure AI · November 19, 2025
- Figure 03 at BMW — Figure AI · June 30, 2026
- Unitree G1 product page — Unitree Robotics · Accessed July 11, 2026
- Unitree official store — Unitree Robotics · Accessed July 11, 2026
- NEO product and specifications — 1X Technologies · Accessed July 11, 2026
- NEO order terms — 1X Technologies · Accessed July 11, 2026
- NEO hands — 1X Technologies · July 9, 2026
Related TechniaHQ guides
Official image recommendations
- Four-panel comparison using official current-generation product photographs.
Tesla Optimus, Figure 03, Unitree G1 and 1X NEO shown in four labeled panels — Tesla, Figure AI, Unitree and 1X official media pages - Figure 03 hardware and soft-goods product view.
Figure 03 humanoid robot standing against the official Figure product background — Figure AI - Unitree G1 in the manufacturer product configuration.
Unitree G1 compact humanoid robot in an official product photograph — Unitree Robotics - 1X NEO inside a real home environment.
1X NEO soft-bodied humanoid robot performing a household task — 1X Technologies - Evidence matrix: public price, production disclosure, deployment metrics and human assistance.
Matrix comparing the commercial evidence available for four humanoid robots — TechniaHQ original chart using cited data
Fact-check report
Verified: July 11, 2026
Confirmed
- Unitree’s $13,500 G1 base price and published specifications were checked on its official product page.
- 1X ownership, subscription and deposit terms were checked on the official order page.
- Figure’s 350-plus delivered units and one-per-hour production cycle are company-reported figures from April 2026.
- Figure 02 and Figure 03 BMW activities are separated by generation.
Not confirmed or incomplete
- Tesla’s current per-unit production volume, complete specification and sale price are not public.
- No independent cross-platform benchmark verifies the companies’ relative dexterity or general autonomy.
- The exact hand configuration shipped with every NEO Early Access unit is not stated consistently across 1X pages.
Fast-changing information
- Prices, deposits, delivery territories, fleet totals and software capability claims can change within weeks.