Galgotias University was reportedly forced to vacate its stall in New Delhi after a “homegrown” robotic dog was exposed as a mass-produced Chinese model.
An ambitious showcase of domestic innovation at the India AI Impact Summit took an embarrassing turn this week when a private university was caught passing off foreign hardware as its own creation. Galgotias University sparked widespread outrage after presenting a robotic dog named “Orion” to state media, claiming it was developed at their in-house Centre of Excellence.
The facade quickly crumbled when eagle-eyed internet users identified the quadruped as the Unitree Go2. The commercially available robot is manufactured by the Chinese robotics firm Unitree and retails for roughly 200,000 rupees ($2,200). Following the online uproar, summit organizers reportedly severed electricity to the university’s pavilion and ordered the institution to vacate the premises.
Deflection and Denial
In the wake of the public relations disaster, Galgotias University released a statement denying any deliberate deception. Administrators characterized the fierce backlash as a “propaganda campaign,” insisting the Chinese robot was merely purchased as an educational tool to help students learn AI programming.
Professor Neha Singh, the faculty member who originally touted the robot as a university development on national television, walked back her statements. She suggested her remarks were misinterpreted by the media and the public.
It might be that I could not convey well what I wanted to say, or you could not understand well what I wanted to say.
The controversy cast an unwanted shadow over the five-day summit at Bharat Mandapam, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian IT Secretary S Krishnan addressed the incident, emphasizing that “inauthentic behaviour” must not detract from the genuine technological strides being showcased by other global delegates.
SOURCES: DD News, Unitree Robotics, Press Trust of India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
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