How Unitree’s Dancing Robots are Raising Founder Wang Xingxing’s Profile in Beijing
Unitree dancing robots have earned robot pioneer Wang Xingxing Beijing recognition. Earlier this month, the Unitree Robotics CEO was among the two dozen tech leaders who met the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Yahoo Finance reported.
A Strategic Move
Analysts see the appearance of Unitree’s Wang Xingxing’s at Xi Jinping’s private sector summit as strategic for the robotics firm. Throughout the meeting, Xingxing sat at the front row, right in front of President Jinping. His sitting position was more central compared to other well known founders like Jack Ma and Pony Ma.
“The appearance of executives from Unitree in the meeting with Xi could increase interest in Chinese robotics startups, which may become the biggest growth drivers for IPOs in China over the next couple of years. Although robotics is an established theme, its applications are expanding with technology advances due to factors such as AI, population trends and the drive across industries for greater efficiency and accuracy,” Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence said.
Growing Recognition
Unitree robotics manufactures agile robots that can walk, dance, perform kung fu, and even work. Wang says the evolution of humanoid robots is happening faster than he expected. He says products such as those that his company makes may be deployed widely in the manufacturing and service industries by 2026 or 2027.
“When what you do conforms to the main theme of the times, good resources will tilt toward you. Humanoid robots are the wave now” Wang said in a Chinese Media Interview last year.
Besides Wang’s stellar appearance at Jinping’s summit, Unitree has featured widely in a robots research project at the Carnegie Mellon University on robots like Lebron James that perform.
Already, Meta is reportedly holding cooperation talks with the Chinese company. In late January, Unitree G1 robots appeared in the Chinese lunar new year robot performance that featured an extravaganza dance.
Security Concerns
Even with these breakthroughs, some leaders in the US have raised concerns over the security threats that Unitree robots pose to the country’s defense and business interests. Last year, US law makers Jacob Helberg and Katie Britt published a column in the Wall Street Journal urging Washington to take swift action to curb the threat posed by Chinese robots. The two legislators highlighted Unitree for the advancements it has made in the robotics field.
“Humanoid robots will have both defensive and offensive national-security implications. The US military is exploring ways to incorporate humanoids into modern warfare, but China has already deployed armed robotics to the battlefield. If the U.S. falls further behind in such critical technology, our troops will face fatal disadvantages on the battlefield,” the Legislators wrote.
However, Unitree has argued that the robotic products it makes are for civilian, and not military use.
“Our products are made for civilian use and we don’t engage in any uses of our products for military purposes,” Unitree said, highlighting the content of a statement it issued jointly with Boston Dynamics back in 2022. In the statement, the two companies committed not to weaponize their robotic products.
High Potential
Unitree humanoid robots can change the Chinese robotics sector the way DeepSeek is altering the AI industry. Wang’s team has developed tech innovations that cost relatively less to produce. This raises China’s potential to produce numerous robots for commercial, industrial, and military use.
Wang’s first robot was the XDog, a robotic dog that he designed while in graduate school between 2013 and 2015. The dual-application potential of Unitree’s robotic dogs attracted criticism from the US after the robot appeared in a Chinese military drill in 2024. Videos from the May drill showed images of the robots carrying assault rifles in a joint exercise conducted by Cambodia and Chinese armies.
The low-cost approach to producing AI tools and robotics has captured the attention of investors globally. Unitree has already attracted investments from different investors, including venture capital firm Source Code and food-delivery company Meituan.
