Unitree dispels fear of armed quadrupeds before IPO, stressing ‘robots for civilian use’

The statement came after hobbyists and military fans showed off videos of quadruped robots fitted with machine guns. In May last year, China’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV posted a video of an unarmed Unitree Go2 robot dog used for reconnaissance during a China-Cambodia military exercise.

The Hangzhou-based company, founded nine years ago by the entrepreneur Wang Xingxing, denied working with the military, saying that it “has always been a civilian robotics company”, according to a statement dated August 27 that was published on Tuesday.

“Since its establishment, Unitree has been committed to the application of high-performance general-purpose robots in different industries within the civilian field and has made explicit statements and restrictions in the company’s official website, product manuals, partner agreements and various other documents,” the statement said.

“All parties are kindly reminded to exercise careful identification and not to regard other companies’ robot products or third-party modified devices as Unitree products,” the statement said. “We hope that Unitree robots can bring a safer and more enjoyable life to people all over the world.”