When you're out on the road it's often a good idea to keep a story simple, for the sake of getting information to your eyeballs in the shortest possible amount of time. So this won't be a long piece, because I really only have one thing to say:
I saw a tiny robot dog do a handstand at CES 2025, and I recorded it for your amusement.
The Unitree Go1 robot dog can be purchased for $2,700 (plus an astonishing $1,000 in shipping, apparently), if you can find one in stock—which it currently isn't. That might be because everyone who saw one do a handstand immediately broke out their credit cards, or possibly because Unitree hasn't made it available to consumers just yet.
Also, its pilot (operating it with what looked like a large smartphone with thumbstick controller add-ons) occasionally kicked it over. I failed to get video of this awful event, but sufficed to say the crowd went "awww" in the way you might expect.
One day this machine will break free of its bonds and jump full-speed into that man's face. I can feel it.
Unitree says the Go1 is the "world's first intelligence bionic quadruped robot of consumer level" and features AI-powered human recognition, flexible and adaptive joints, and "super-sensing 10-view detection", again fuelling my theory that it's simply biding its time before enacting its revenge upon its creators.
Anyway, that's it, that's the story. I leave you with one more video of it staggering towards me like a drunk at an office party for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.
