Founder of China's Unitree sees lack of advanced AI as biggest roadblock to mass robot use
Unitree
Robotic AI had not reached a critical threshold necessary for widespread adoption, Wang said in an interview published on Wednesday by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party. He reiterated his earlier assertion that the 'ChatGPT moment' for the robotics industry had yet to arrive.
'This is a common challenge worldwide, and many people are working to overcome it,' he said. 'But breakthroughs can happen at any time … issues that currently seem insurmountable could be suddenly resolved in the future.'
Wang's remarks come as China's robotics sector – an area also known as embodied intelligence – is gaining momentum, attracting interest from the government, various industries and the public.
Unitree garnered national attention after its humanoid robots gave
a dance performance during state broadcaster China Central Television's annual Lunar New Year's Eve gala. Weeks later, Wang became the youngest entrepreneur to join Chinese President Xi Jinping's high-profile business symposium in February.
Visitors watch humanoid robots fight at the Unitree booth during the World Robot Conference in Beijing. Photo: cnsphoto via Reuters
Wang, 35, said the heightened attention was beneficial for the entire industry, adding that Unitree and other robotics businesses performed well in the first half of the year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
40 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Recurrent profits for Hong Kong's MTR Corp drop 15.7% in ‘eventful' first half
Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation has reported a 15.7 per cent drop in recurrent-business profit to HK$3.39 billion in the first six months of this year from the same period in 2024 due to higher operating costs. After taking into consideration property gains and losses from a one-off revaluation of investment properties, the group said on Thursday that its net profit jumped 27.5 per cent to HK$7.7 billion during the first half of 2025. MTR Corp CEO Jacob Kam Chak-pui said that business over the period had been 'eventful'. 'The first six months of 2025 proved to be an eventful time that saw the MTR take meaningful steps forward in its expanding capital works programme, while rising patronage figures drove solid results for the company's operating revenue,' he said. Kam added that the company was in the 'harvesting stage' of its earlier property development projects. It recorded a property development profit of HK$5.54 billion in the first six months of this year compared with HK$1.74 billion in the same period in 2024, mainly from two packages near Ho Man Tin station and another two at The Southside mall near Wong Chuk Hang station.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Waiting time for Hong Kong public rental flat rises slightly to 5.4 years
The average waiting time for a Hong Kong public rental flat increased slightly to 5.4 years in the second quarter of 2025 from 5.3 years in the first three months of the year despite a significant drop in the number of applications, according to the Housing Authority. The authority, the city's largest public housing provider, on Thursday pointed to applicants being allocated refurbished public housing recovered from tenants or evicted due to abuse of resources in urban areas. It also revealed that about 3,000 general applicants – families or elderly households – were allocated flats between April and June. Among them, 2,900 households were given refurbished homes recovered from tenants, including those who surrendered their properties after purchasing subsidised flats or were evicted due to tenancy abuse, while the remaining families were allocated flats in Yip Wong Estate in Tuen Mun or Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po. As of June, the city had about 115,700 general applicants for public rental homes, a 26 per cent drop from the peak of 156,400 cases in September 2020. About 360 non-elderly single applicants were housed in public rental homes in the second quarter. As of June, there were about 86,100 applicants, a 40 per cent drop from the peak of 143,700 cases in December 2015.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China debuts first e-beam lithography machine for commercial use in chipmaking milestone
China is set to deliver its first domestically developed e-beam lithography tool for commercial use, advancing its chipmaking capabilities and taking a step forward in the race for technological advancement. Lithography systems – among the most sophisticated machines ever created – are crucial for the mass production of chips, though China remains in the very early stages of developing such tools domestically. Named Xizhi after the famed ancient Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi, the new machine was developed by a quantum technology lab at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. It uses a focused electron beam to 'write' chip circuits onto silicon wafers. 'Due to export controls , such equipment has long been out of reach for leading domestic research institutions, including the University of Science and Technology of China and Zhejiang Lab,' Hangzhou Daily, a local media outlet, reported on Thursday. 'The delivery of Xizhi is expected to help break this impasse.' Beijing has ramped up efforts to localise advanced chip manufacturing in response to US export restrictions on hi-tech equipment, with recent progress strengthening its R&D capabilities.
