Songyan N1

What it's for

The Songyan N1 is a bipedal humanoid from Beijing, and its maker talks about functions rather than numbers. The material we have covers four areas it was designed for: motion control, grasping, navigation and obstacle avoidance. The foundation is deep reinforcement learning: the robot learns first in simulation, then in a sim-to-sim transfer, and only at the end steps out into the real world. This method is meant to deliver a stable gait and a confident grip without hand-programming every movement.

Uses. First, research and teaching. The N1's target group is industry and research centers, and a machine driven by policies learned in simulation appeals to a team that wants to see how policies trained in a simulator behave on real hardware.

Second, demonstrations and education. The sister model, the N2, won a silver medal in the humanoid half marathon in Yizhuang (April 19, 2025), which shows that the company invests in speed and gait stability; such appearances build the brand and serve as a reference point for event organizers. Renting a robot for events is covered in “Renting a Humanoid Robot for an Event”.

Third, industrial pilots. The company reports orders for the N1 and N2 combined exceeding 2,000 units, worth more than RMB 100 million, but it does not split them by model and does not name customers, so we don't know what exactly the N1 units were used for.

The most important caveat: we have not confirmed the N1's basic parameters (height, mass, degrees of freedom, payload) in the sources checked. So we do not describe real capabilities or promise applications; we show a direction. The sister Noetix N2 has concrete data. The category is organized under “Humanoid robots”, and university scenarios under “Universities and research” and laboratories.

Who it's for

The N1 is not yet a ready recommendation for anyone: the data is too sparse. Those who might look at it first are research teams and integrators seeking Chinese platforms built on reinforcement learning, ready to write to the manufacturer and demand a data sheet, a price and service terms. It is also a proposition for people tracking how quickly the Chinese market is scaling; orders in the thousands of units are impressive.

It is not for you if: you want to compare prices and parameters, because there are none; you are looking for hardware with a Polish distributor, warranty and service, because the robot is not offered in Poland; you require an open SDK with full documentation of the kind Unitree publishes (see Unitree G1); or you need an industrial application with confirmed compliance with standards (“Robot Safety Standards”). Before ordering anything, learn to read manufacturer data: “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”.

Deployments

Worldwide, the company reports orders for the N1 and N2 combined of more than 2,000 units, without naming customers or locations. In the category of humanoids sold to research and education customers, the documented models are the Unitree G1 and Unitree R1. Polish robotics centers and companies are covered in “Polish Robotics Companies”. Before you start purchase talks, ask for a list of references and check whether the data relates to the N1 or the sister N2.

The closest alternative is the Noetix N2 from the same manufacturer: it comes in at 30 kg, 18 DOF, up to 3.5 m/s, about 5 kg of payload and a price equivalent to roughly PLN 21,300 (≈ EUR 4,880) (USD 5,500-8,400 according to sources), a fuller data sheet than the N1. If you want a cheap learning platform, look at the Unitree R1 (about PLN 19,000 (≈ EUR 4,350)). For more serious experiments with gait and grasping, the Unitree G1 (about PLN 52,300 (≈ EUR 11,980), 23 DOF, 2 kg payload) is suitable, and for more ambitious research projects, the LimX Oli (about PLN 84,500 (≈ EUR 19,360), 31 DOF). Those who want to get to know another cheap Chinese design will find the EngineAI PM01 (about PLN 46,514 (≈ EUR 10,660), 24 DOF). For comparison: none of these models has orders on Songyan's scale, but each has a public parameter sheet, which is worth more to a buyer than a number of orders.

Songyan Power (also operating as Songyan Dynamics and Noetix Robotics) was founded in September 2023 in Beijing by a team with roots in Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its biggest publicity success remains the silver medal in the humanoid half marathon in Yizhuang (April 19, 2025), won by the N2, not the N1. No launch date is given for the N1 itself. You will find the manufacturer's profile at Songyan Power Technology.