Unitree Technology founder predicts robots will outrun humans this year

The company founder shared the prediction

Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Technology, said that robots cannot yet beat humans over 100 metres. However, he expects robots worldwide - particularly in China - to run faster than people by the middle of this year, “even faster than Usain Bolt”, with a 100-metre time of under ten seconds.

Unitree Technology on embodied intelligence and robot data

Asked when embodied intelligence will reach a ChatGPT-like moment, Wang said it is still some way off. In his view, several key issues remain. The most significant is AI models’ limited capacity for generalisation. Humanoid robots and embodied intelligence need stronger generalisation and expression capabilities, alongside a wider range of robot movements.

The second issue is data use. Robotics currently faces a severe shortage of data, so the limited data already available must be used more effectively. Third, the scaling effect in reinforcement learning needs to be strengthened further.

Wang believes that, while the milestone is not quite here yet, it will arrive soon. He said: “Some optimists suggest it could take 18 months. I am more pessimistic and think it could take 2-3 years, but it could also happen very quickly”.

Earlier, Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots performed in China’s capital at the Temple of Heaven site.