What if you could own a Boston Dynamics-style robot dog for a fraction of the price? The Unitree Go2 is an advanced, agile, and surprisingly affordable robotic companion, designed for research, education, and practical applications like surveillance and exploration. Starting at just $1,600, it carves out a unique niche. There’s simply nothing else like it at this price point.
It’s been a few years since we took apart a robot, so we phoned in some expert help to dig into this dog. We called up robotics expert Marcel Stieber and invited him to join us for a full teardown. Marcel’s got over a decade of consumer electronics and robotics systems engineering experience, and he shared that with us in this extra-special long-form teardown.
If you’re a fan of gadget guts, you won’t want to miss Marcel’s commentary here, as we pull out the dog’s brains and talk about what makes it tick.
Pretty Modular—But Good Luck Finding Parts
We don’t have a repairability scorecard for robot dogs—we haven’t taken apart enough of them yet. But the repairability of the Unitree Go2 is pretty good, for the most part.
Starting off strong, it comes with replacement feet, which is a smart move. The little rubber feet are consumables, and when we consider repairability, we’re always concerned about parts that will wear out.
Speaking of consumables, the battery unit is also easily replaceable, removable from the side of the dog by hand. The whole unit opens up with removing just a few screws, and the battery pack itself is separate from the battery management board. Inside, the battery pack uses an array of standard 2000mAh 18650 cells.
Though we didn’t fully remove a leg in this teardown, the legs also seem to be replaceable. But getting replacement parts isn’t as straightforward as we’d like—there’s a contact form on their website, no direct ordering of parts. We reached out to Unitree to see if we could purchase a spare motor and leg, and we’ll update if we hear back.
We liked what we did see, though, where the legs connect to the hip joints. The two sections mesh together metal on metal, where most of the force is transmitted. But the assembly is kept together with a plastic locking collar—should the leg experience too much force in a direction it wasn’t designed to move (like outward), a (hopefully inexpensive) plastic part breaks instead of expensive metal mechanisms or motors. Take a peek inside in our CT scan of the leg, thanks to our Lumafield scanner:
The large inner motherboard—the only board in the whole dog—is buried beneath layers of armor, as expected. But it’s covered with connectors, making isolated repairs simple. Each motor connects separately, and most things are labeled. Liberal amounts of tape, silicone, epoxy, and glue exist here too, but that’s par for the course—normal engineering for a gadget designed for repeated shock and heavy vibrations. And once we figured out the tricks to get things disconnected, we were well on our way.
LiDAR: The Robot’s Eyes
A key feature of the Go2 is its built-in LiDAR, which helps it navigate by bouncing laser beams off its surroundings. This allows it to “see” obstacles and map out its environment—essentially a high-tech version of how human eyes process depth. However, we were surprised to find the LiDAR sensor buried deep inside the frame, making repairs or replacements more complicated than ideal. Still, its metal exoskeleton saves it from most abuse.
Built for Adventure, But Not Indestructible
The Go2 has a rough-and-tumble design, clearly meant to withstand some seriously difficult terrain. We tasked it with stairs, which it could sort of handle. It can pick itself up when it falls over, at least, and we even sent it to fetch coffee from a shop down the street.
While the Go2 is undeniably impressive, some design choices raise concerns. Its neck section is fragile, and for a robot that’s bound to take a few tumbles, we’re skeptical about its long-term durability. When we opened the dog up, we found that our stair-testing had caused a crack across the neck inside.
Final Thoughts
The Unitree Go2 straddles the line between research tool and consumer gadget. It’s not quite a pet, but it’s also not a full-fledged industrial robot like Boston Dynamics’ SPOT. At a tiny fraction of the price, though (SPOT starts at $75,000), it doesn’t have to be. For those interested in robotics, this is an exciting, accessible entry into the field.
Thanks again to Marcel Stieber for lending his expertise on this teardown—definitely don’t skip the video.
Want to take apart your own Go2? Grab a hefty driver set (like our Mahi Driver Kit) and get ready for an inside look at the future of affordable robotics.
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