An Indian university has come under criticism after a robot dog displayed at a major artificial intelligence summit was initially presented as an in-house development, before social media users identified it as a Chinese-made product.
During a broadcast with Indian state-run DD News, a communications professor from Galgotias University introduced the quadruped robot as “Orion”, stating that it had been developed by the institution’s Centre of Excellence. Online users later identified the machine as the Unitree Go2, manufactured by Unitree Robotics and sold internationally for research and educational use at a price of around $2,800.
The incident quickly drew criticism on social media. The controversy was amplified after India’s Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, shared a clip of the demonstration on his official account before deleting the post.
Galgotias University later said that it had not claimed to have built the robot. In a statement posted on X, the institution said it had not manufactured the device but was focused on training students who would go on to design and develop similar technologies. The university’s exhibition stand remained open as of Wednesday, with representatives responding to questions from media regarding allegations of misrepresentation, according to a recent report by AFP.
The opposition Indian National Congress criticised the incident, describing it as damaging to India’s international standing in AI. “The Modi government has made a laughing stock of India globally, with regard to AI. In the ongoing AI summit, Chinese robots are being displayed as our own,” the party posted on X.