The government stepped in on Wednesday, February 18, warning exhibitors at the India AI Impact Summit not to pass off work that isn’t theirs. “Exhibitors must not display items that are not theirs,” IT Secretary S Krishnan told reporters.
So here’s what happened. Galgotias University found itself in the middle of a storm after people accused it of presenting a Chinese-made Unitree robodog as its own invention.
India AI Impact Summit Row: Galgotias Asked to Exit Over ‘Robodog’ Controversy
Videos from the university’s stall at the Summit started spreading online, and folks quickly noticed something was off.
By Wednesday, the controversy had blown up. Authorities asked Galgotias to pack up and leave the Summit, saying the university embarrassed the country by claiming the robodog as their creation.
In the thick of it all stood Professor Neha Singh, Galgotias’ representative at the event. In a video that went viral, she introduced the robodog calling it “Orion” and said it had been developed by the university’s Centre of Excellence.
She even talked about its surveillance abilities and how it roamed around their campus. But viewers weren’t buying it. They recognized the machine as a Unitree Go2, a model from the Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics that sells for about $1,600 and is already common in research labs.
Galgotias University Denies Building Robodog After Viral Video Storm
Social media lit up with criticism. People called out the university for the misleading claim. Galgotias responded online, backpedalling fast. Their statement insisted they never said they built the robodog.
“Galgotias has not built this robodog, nor have we claimed to do so,” the statement read. “What we are building are minds that will soon design, engineer, and manufacture such technologies here in Bharat.”
The university also shifted blame onto Professor Neha Singh, saying she was “ill-informed” and got carried away on camera, making inaccurate statements. They added she wasn’t even authorized to talk to the press.
