It’s one small step for man — and one giant, badass layup for robot kind.
Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have programmed a Unitree G1 humanoid robot to play basketball, almost perfectly mimicking the skills of a human athlete.
A video shared by HKUST PhD student Yinhuai Wang shows the robot dribbling, taking jump shots, and even pivoting on one of its feet to evade the student’s attempts to block it from taking a shot.
Wang called it the “first-ever real-world basketball demo by a humanoid robot,” boasting that he “became the first person to record a block against a humanoid.”
First-ever real-world basketball demo
by a humanoid robot 🤖🏀
Bonus: I became the first person to record a block against a humanoid🤭 #Robotics #AI #TechDemo #NBA pic.twitter.com/mERAsHxsLI — Yinhuai (@NliGjvJbycSeD6t) November 20, 2025
It’s an impressive demo, showcasing how far humanoid robotics has come in a matter of years. Unitree, in particular, has stood out in an increasingly crowded field, with its G1 rapidly picking up new skills.
We’ve seen the four-foot-four-inch humanoid perform impressive kung fu moves and easily shrug off a direct flying dropkick from an adult human. We’ve even seen two of them take each other on in a head-to-head kickboxing contest.
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