In the escalating humanoid robotics race, the spotlight usually falls on Tesla’s Optimus or Boston Dynamics’ Atlas—towering, headline-grabbing machines meant to wow investors as much as engineers. But the Unitree G1, a squat four-foot-tall robot from Unitree Robotics, a Chinese manufacturer better known for its quadruped “robot dogs,” is quietly becoming the workhorse of a different revolution: affordable humanoids. At roughly $16,000, it is cheap enough for universities, robotics clubs, and startups to buy off the shelf and put through its paces. The G1 is showing up in labs from Beijing to Boston, learning to climb stairs, pick up boxes, and wave at onlookers. That new accessibility, however, comes with a risk—and a new report warns that the danger isn’t theoretical. In a technical study published last week, researchers from Alias Robotics tore into the G1’s inner workings, from its Linux-based software stack to its custom encryption scheme and cloud connections.

Full report : Chinese robotics startup Unitree’s G1 robot leaks telemetry data, uses static encryption, and can launch attacks.