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Booster Robotics T1

The RoboCup champion's robot — the cheapest way into a real humanoid.

We haven't tested this machine hands-on, so this profile carries no rating — every fact below traces to the sources at the end, and the judgments are clearly ours. Full methodology on the Robot Tracker.

At a glance

Status
ShippingReal units delivered to paying customers
Can you buy it?
Yes
Price
From ~$9,000 (Basic) to ~$47,700 (Standard, US tariff-inclusive)
Form factor
Bipedal humanoid (1.2 m, compact)
AI brain
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin (200 TOPS); ROS2, open framework
Maker
Booster Robotics (China)
Backing
Private (Beijing startup)

The Booster T1 is what a humanoid looks like when it's engineered to be crashed: a 1.2-meter, ~30 kg robot built for the punishment of robot soccer, where it won the 2025 RoboCup 'AdultSize' championship and became the platform of choice for 50+ university teams and research institutes. That heritage means the things that matter to developers — durability, quick joint swaps, full ROS2 support, simulation integration — instead of demo-reel spectacle.

Pricing spans a wide range: distributor listings start around $9,000 for the Basic edition, while the Standard (Intel i7 + Jetson AGX Orin, 200 TOPS) lists near $47,700 in the US with tariffs included. That makes the T1 both the cheapest entry into real humanoid ownership and a case study in how tariffs distort this market. As ever in this class: it's a development platform — brilliant for labs and education, useless for laundry.

What's real

  • The cheapest real humanoid you can order (Basic editions from ~$9,000 via distributors)
  • Proven durable in the most punishing benchmark that exists — competitive robot soccer (2025 RoboCup champion platform, 50+ teams)
  • Serious developer stack: Jetson AGX Orin, ROS2, Isaac Sim support, open interfaces

Know before you watch (or buy)

  • Small and light (1.2 m, ~30 kg): a research and education machine, not a labor robot
  • US pricing balloons with tariffs — the same robot spans ~$9k to ~$48k depending on edition and route
  • Developer platform caveat as always: capability is what you program

The evidence

Shipping via distributors; the 2025 RoboCup Soccer 'AdultSize' championship platform, used by 50+ robotics teams and institutes worldwide.

Sources: RobotShop · Booster Robotics · Robotopian

Bottom line

If you want to own and program a humanoid on the smallest realistic budget — or equip a lab or classroom — the T1 is the value pick of the buyable class. The RoboCup pedigree is worth more than any spec sheet: these robots are selected by people who break robots for sport.

FAQ

How much does a Booster T1 cost?

It ranges widely by edition and region: distributor listings start around $9,000 for the T1 Basic, while the T1 Standard (with Intel i7 + NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin) lists at about $47,700 in the US including tariffs. It's a 1.2 m developer humanoid used by 50+ RoboCup teams and research institutes — not a household robot.

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