The founder of Unitree, a leader in China's robotics industry, has shared his journey of turning imagination into reality in the world of consumer robotics, encouraging technology entrepreneurs to seize opportunities in this era and never give up on their dreams.
Founded in east China's tech hub of Hangzhou in 2016, by Wang Xingxing, who was only 26 years old at that time, this world-renowned robotics company has been consistently enhancing the operational capabilities of robots to perform practical tasks for humans.
Unitree Robotics launched its humanoid robot project in 2023. Leveraging years of technological accumulation in quadruped robotics, the company developed its first bipedal robot prototype in just six months.
Powered by AI advancements, the humanoid robots launched by Unitree Robotics in 2024 exhibited superhuman flexibility, making them capable of executing highly dynamic maneuvers. This year, through data capture and reinforcement learning technologies, the robots have mastered martial arts maneuvers, including aerial cartwheels and kip-ups, garnering widespread attention.
Recently, a netizen dug up Wang's master's thesis and discovered that he had developed a prototype of the four-legged robot as early as 2016. This has sparked heated discussions online about Wang's foresight in predicting technology and trends.
During the eighth Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai, an integral part of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) which opened on Wednesday, Wang talked about the paper for the first time in an interview with China Central Television.
"This idea popped up in my mind quite a long time ago. I came up with the plan for that robot dog back in 2013. When I first envisioned the design, I was thinking about whether to drop out of school and start up my own business. Yet, nothing was materialized then. It was merely a thought because I had nothing tangible to work with. But I eventually brought the idea to fruition," Wang said.
"In fact, I had already considered most of the company's business and development direction, at least regarding quadruped robots, as early as 2014 or 2015, and we then realized them. In 2009, I myself made a small humanoid robot. But there was no such a thing in the world and I saw no hope for commercialization or practical value. For many years, our company didn't make humanoid robots. Later, however, the remarkable progress in robot AI, including large-scale AI models, was obvious to all, which reopened everyone's imagination. That's why you've witnessed the incredibly rapid advancement of humanoid robots in recent years," he said.
Unitree Robotics, notably, is the first company in the world to start public retail of high-performance quadruped robots, and leads the global market in terms of robot sales volume.
Led by pioneers like Unitree, China's technological prowess is making its mark in the global humanoid robotics arena. A Morgan Stanley report forecasts China's humanoid robot market will grow to 6 trillion yuan (about 836.88 billion U.S. dollars) by 2050 -- with the total number of humanoid robots reaching 59 million.
The success of this post-90s entrepreneur and his robotics business are undoubtedly regarded as a model for China's younger generation to lead the global transformation of the technology industry. Wang encouraged young people to embrace innovation, seize the opportunities of the times, and realize their dreams.
"The tech field is always forward-looking. You need to imagine what direction you should develop in the future. As long as you head in the right direction, success is inevitable. However, also because this industry now requires forward-thinking, getting started can be challenging. This difficulty also has its advantages -- it keeps others out, which means that as long as you can persist in this field, the potential for explosive growth is immense," Wang said.
"I truly believe this era is incredibly favorable for young people, for anyone with dreams, especially those with tech aspirations. When we started our venture in 2016, the company valuation and market attention were completely different from what they are now, at least dozens or even hundreds of times lower. So, starting up a business is actually much easier now, but the challenges are also much greater. Yet I believe everyone has more opportunities to realize their dreams," he said.
On Wednesday, Wang delivered a keynote speech on next-generation intelligent terminals for embodied robots at a sub-forum themed "Cooperation of Humanoid Robotics Innovation and Development" at the 8th Hongqiao International Economic Forum, stressing Unitree's vision of making robots "truly work" in various scenarios such as factories and households in the future.
Unitree founder encourages tech entrepreneurs to hold on to their dreams
Unitree founder encourages tech entrepreneurs to hold on to their dreams
