Where it works
Research groups, developers and demonstration work. The compact size and low price made it the default humanoid for anyone who needs a body to test software on.
The two-kilogram arm payload is the number to read carefully. It is enough for demonstrations, teleoperation research and light handling, and it is not enough for most warehouse or manufacturing tasks, which routinely involve five to fifteen kilograms. The G1 is priced as a product and specified as a development platform.
13,500 dollars direct, around 17,990 at US dealers, with EDU configurations carrying dexterous hands reported from 43,900 upward. Street prices vary by channel and configuration.
What it means to own one
Cheap enough that owning one is a real decision rather than a corporate procurement exercise. But there is no service market to place it into, so the return is what you build with it rather than what it bills.
The G1 shows how fast the price floor moved: a walking humanoid now costs less than the annual service contract on a commercial floor scrubber. What has not moved at the same speed is the payload and the reliability needed to put one on a paying shift, and that lag is where the real bottleneck in this category sits.