Unitree's G1 is being watched because the humanoid race is shifting from cinematic clips to repeatable capability. The important question is not whether a robot can wave. It is whether it can perform reliably after the demo lights turn off.1
Lower hardware cost changes the adoption curve. If humanoids keep falling toward industrial equipment budgets, pilot programs become easier to justify.
The next signal to watch is deployment context: warehouses, factory lines, labs, or showrooms. The use case will say more than any single speed claim.
