Galbot's ET1 Robot Wins CES Innovation Award
The humanoid robot, co-developed with Unitree, took Best of Innovation in Robotics at the CES Innovation Awards 2027.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Robotics
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Galbot's ET1 humanoid robot was named Best of Innovation in Robotics in the CES Innovation Awards 2027, announced by the Consumer Technology Association on November 9. ET1 is the only Best of Innovation winner among 21 robotics honorees.
Why it matters
The award highlights growing interest in humanoid robots, with robotics entries rising 74% year over year in the program. ET1's reported 200-plus pre-orders within 24 hours of opening reservations point to early consumer demand.
The CES Innovation Awards 2027 drew nearly 4,000 submissions across 37 categories, with robotics entries rising 74% from last year. Galbot has not disclosed when ET1 deliveries will begin.
The players
Galbot
Galbot is a Chinese robotics company that developed the ET1 humanoid robot and its AstraBrain physical-world agent system.
Unitree
Unitree is a Chinese robotics company known for its legged robots, which co-developed the ET1 humanoid with Galbot.
Consumer Technology Association
The Consumer Technology Association is the trade group that runs the CES trade show and its Innovation Awards program.
The details
ET1 learns new physical skills from human demonstration without motion-capture equipment and runs them through AstraBrain-WBC, a billion-parameter Transformer-based motion model. The robot has a personalized motion library and a co-evolutionary learning algorithm that adapts to each user, and units have been shown in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Guizhou.
Timeline
October 22, 2026: Galbot and Unitree announce co-development of the ET1 humanoid robot.
November 9, 2026: The Consumer Technology Association announces CES Innovation Awards honorees.
January 2027: CES 2027 opens in Las Vegas, where additional honorees will be revealed.
The Tech Race
The ET1 honor extends a 74% year-over-year rise in robotics entries at the CES Innovation Awards, signaling rapid growth in humanoid robotics. It places Galbot and Unitree among the leading Chinese challengers in a fast-moving global race to commercialize general-purpose robots.
Humanoid robots like ET1 could eventually handle household or service tasks, but Galbot has not yet said when deliveries begin. Early buyers have already placed more than 200 pre-orders, so interested consumers should watch for shipping details.
The takeaway
A humanoid robot's award win signals that consumer-facing robotics is moving from demonstrations toward real purchases. Readers following the category should track delivery timelines, since early pre-orders often reveal how quickly a product will reach homes.
What happens next
CES 2027 opens in Las Vegas in January, when additional Innovation Awards honorees will be revealed.
Further reading
Explore more coverage in our Robotics section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Pandaily.
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