Unitree's G1 humanoid robot represents a landmark in cost-engineered robotics. At ¥85,000, the base unit carries an estimated 40.7% gross margin — remarkable for hardware at this scale. Our full teardown reveals that joint modules account for 66% of the ¥41,600 bill of materials, while every major component is commercially available off the shelf. The real competitive moat is not hardware — it's Unitree's proprietary motion-control software, which delivers industry-leading dynamic performance on commodity components. Unitree shipped over 5,500 units in 2025, capturing global volume leadership. However, conservative thermal management limits continuous operation to one to two hours, and a 2-kilogram arm payload constrains industrial deployment. Linear actuators remain the missing link for factory-grade humanoid robots.