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NEW DELHI: Galgotias University was asked to vacate its stall at the Artificial Intelligence Summit exhibition at Bharat Mandapam on Wednesday after a robotic dog displayed at its booth as an in-house innovation was identified as a commercially available Chinese product, government sources said.The robot, which the university displayed as “Orion”, was identified by observers as the Unitree Go2 made by Chinese robotics company Unitree. The incident quickly escalated into a broader controversy at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a flagship AI event inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi.
AI Impact Summit: Facing backlash over a Chinese-made robo-dog, Galgotias University has asked to leave the event
What is the class about?
The robot dog on display at the university’s booth has been identified as Unitree Go2, a commercially available four-legged robot that sells in India for around Rs 2-3 lakh. Critics said the robot was presented at the summit as a product developed by the university, raising questions about the display of imported technology at a national artificial intelligence event aimed at highlighting local innovation.After intensified scrutiny, power to Galgotias University’s pavilion at the AI Summit was also cut off after it was asked to vacate the exhibition.
What sparked the dispute
While introducing the robot earlier, Professor Neha Singh told DD News: “We are the first private university to invest more than Rs 350 crore in AI and have a dedicated data science and AI cluster on the campus. So Orion has been developed by the Center of Excellence and as you can see, it can take all shapes and sizes.”
She added: “He’s very naughty too. He’s quite naughty too and can perform little surveillance and surveillance tasks.”
The opposition responds
The controversy sparked sharp reactions from the opposition. The Congress said on
Even more shameful is the fact that Modi’s minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is indulging in the same lies, promoting Chinese robots at the Indian summit.
““The Modi government has caused irreparable damage to the country’s image – they have turned AI into a joke – an area where we could be world leaders given the power of data we have,” she added.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described the summit as a “disorganized public relations spectacle”.
In a post on X, he said: “Instead of leveraging Indian talent and data, the AI Summit has become a disorganized PR spectacle – Indian data for sale, Chinese products on display.”
The university issues a clarification
Galgotias University said in the first statement that it did not manufacture or claim to have built the robotic dog, and stressed its focus on student learning through exposure to advanced global technologies.“Let’s be clear – Galgotias did not build this robot, and we didn’t claim it either.
But what we are building are the minds that will soon be designing, engineering and manufacturing such technologies here in Bharat. Innovation knows no boundaries. It should not be learned either. We will continue to source the best technologies from around the world so that our students can study, challenge, improve, and ultimately create world-class solutions from India to the world.
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In a later statement, the university said that concerns about “propaganda” against the university were misplaced.“We at Galgotias, faculty and students, are deeply pained by the propaganda campaign against our university. We would like to clearly point out that robotic programming is part of our endeavor to make students learn AI programming and develop and disseminate real world skills using globally available tools and resources, as talent development is the need of the hour.”
Professor Neha Singh, who was representing the university, said the controversy stemmed from unclear communication.“The controversy happened because things may not have been clearly expressed. I take responsibility because I may not have communicated it correctly, as it was done with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and very quickly, so I may not have been able to express it as eloquently as I usually do. Also, the intent may not have been properly understood. One important point is with regard to the robotic dog – we cannot claim that we created it.
I told everyone that we gave it to our students to inspire them to create something better themselves. Our university contributes to building future leaders by providing advanced technologies in the field of artificial intelligence, and will continue to do so.The summit’s focus on India’s AI ambitions was overshadowed after observers identified the robot as Unitree Go2, a model sold by Chinese robotics company Unitree.
